Faith Formation Opportunities for 2024-2025

Sacramental preparation will include in-person sessions on campus for OCIA, Confirmation, and "SacPrep" for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist.
You can click on the following links to check out information regarding
           
             Children's Faith Formation
             Youth Ministry

Adult Confirmation Prep 2024:
 

Adults who have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation are encouraged to gather for an opportunity to prepare for the Sacrament on Thursday evenings beginning approximately Sept 12, 2024 (7pm - 8:30pm). Participants will meet in the Aquinas Center Faith Formation Conference Room for approximately nine sessions. A Confirmation Mass is being scheduled with the Archdiocese and is expected to be celebrated in late April or early May, 2024. To register for this class or for more information, contact Amy Parent at amy@stthomascamas.org.

The purpose of all sacramental preparation is to help the candidate understand and appreciate the gift they will be receiving in the particular sacrament. Adult Confirmation Prep is designed to give an overview of the Faith (basic elements of the Creed, Sacraments, and Catholic Morality) while preparing candidates for Confirmation. Typically, those who missed Confirmation as teens were not able to be as engaged with the Church as they could have been and so once they are motivated to reconnect (often years later) they can usually benefit from a general refresher so that they feel confident about Catholic teachings in general as well as practical things like understanding the various parts of the Mass. It can also be an opportunity for frank discussions about things from the past that have angered, confused, or disappointed them about the Catholic Church. It is usually a fairly small group which offers a more comfortable setting for questions and discussions.

Part of our discussions in the Adult Confirmation Prep course will be to help prepare participants for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a return to the Eucharist, if appropriate. We will also have the opportunity to help guide those Catholics who were not married in the Church to understand and correct this situation. Please see below for an overview of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The following list includes some of the core habits for disciples of all ages to develop. They serve as the focus of our efforts at coaching our young parishioners to grow as disciples of Jesus. Notice how the first four are habits primarily developed at home, in the Domestic Church. The final habit is what we can focus on during our Sunday morning faith formation sessions in an effort to help develop some vocabulary and concepts to better understand and articulate the relationship with Jesus at the root of the first four habits:

• Prayer: Develop the habit of daily personal and family conversation with God.
• Mass: Develop the habit of actively participating in weekly Sunday Liturgy.
• Bible: Develop the habit of reading (or listening to) Bible stories.
• Love: Develop the habit of being generous in your love for God and neighbor.
• Study: Develop the habit of learning more about what God has done for us and how we are called to respond.

Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA)
Contact: 834-2126 ext 212

amy@stthomascamas.org

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