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PHILIOSPHY
The goal of our Religious Formation program is to bring all people into a closer relationship with Christ and his Church. It is fitting then, that our children—who by their participation in our program come to learn more deeply about Jesus and his ministry. It is important that religious instruction and participation in the Mass each Sunday go hand in hand. Without regular participation in the Sunday Eucharist, much of the child’s faith formation is missing. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic Faith.
This faith formation is a partnership between the parish and our families. Only together, can we instill the full sense of the importance of our faith and give them a gift that will last them a lifetime.
Religious Formation is open to all children of the parish. It is a partnership between families and our teaching staff. The program runs from Grades 1 thru 8. We offer two choices of programs, the first is Family Based, in which the entire family meets monthly for sessions and have lessons at home in between these sessions. The second is the more traditional Classroom Based program. Students meet weekly for their classes and occasionally have things to do between their classes.
Sacramental preparation takes place alongside these programs. First Reconciliation & First Eucharist takes place in Second grade. Confirmation preparation takes place in Seventh & Eighth grade with the celebration of the sacrament at the end of Eighth grade.
We are very blessed to have your children as part of our parish family and our formation program. If at any time you have questions about our program, please feel free to contact us.
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Contact information
Phone: 201-843-2240 E-Mail: reled@stphilipsb.org -
REGISTRATION 2020-2021
June 2020
Dear Religious Formation Families,
I know this has been a strange year to say the least. As our lives slowly start getting back to normal we being to look to next year. We pray that all your families are well and managed the best you could in spite of everything. I imagine the children will have many stories to share with their friends.
Today we are beginning our registration for the coming year of Religious Formation. We are using a new registration and payment form that we hope will make your lives a little easier. Below is a link that will take you to our parish Faith Direct page where you can begin the process. We continue the choice of Family Bases classes as well as Classroom Based classes. Please choose the one that works the best for your family at this time.
Family Based classes will continue to be for grades 1-6 on Sunday mornings, 11:00AM - 1:00PM
or Monday evenings, 6:00 – 8:00PM.
Classroom Based classes will be Sunday mornings following 8:30 Mass from 9:30 – 10:45AM.
Confirmation preparation classes (7th & 8th) grade will continue to take place on Monday evenings from 7:00 – 8:15PM.
We are always in need of Religious Formation teachers. I know this can be a challenging ministry but the passing on of the faith is so important to the future of our church. We can always use your assistance. You do not have to be a professional teacher in order to help. We would provide you with all the tools that you would need to have a positive classroom experience. Besides teachers, we are also in need of teacher assistants for all grades. Please consider joining us in this exciting ministry.
On the following page is a letter for the opportunity to financial support our parish and all its programs. If you join this program, your children would attend tuition free. In light of the situation this year we are keeping the tuition fees the same as last year, $125 for the first child, $165 for two and $200 for three and above.
Once again thank you for all your support during my first year at St. Philips. I look forward to another great year working with you and your children.
Yours in Ministry,
Peter Keenen O’Brien
Director of Religious Formation
Registration on Line: https://membership.faithdirect.net/events/org/663
(Right click and select Open Hyper Link or Cut and paste in browse window)
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Dear Parents,
We have been forced to learn many things during this health crisis and every organization has had to look at its mission and understand how important relationships are even during a pandemic.
In the Catholic Church we have certainly learned that each parish can only continue into the future if there are parishioners who support the overall mission to serve the community, the Church. Setting up a system where Catholics pay for what they want and don’t donate if they aren’t using any services is a sure recipe for disaster. As a matter of fact, we will see parishes who can not sustain a mission-community existence start to close and be merged with neighboring parishes.
Here at St. Philip’s we would like to start to change that relationship with our young families. We would like to help you see that religious education and Sacraments of Initiation can only be offered within a larger healthy parish community.
With that in mind we would like to offer our families an opportunity to support St. Philip’s and not just Religious Formation (formally called CCD,) which in turn will allow St. Philip’s Parish to serve the holistic needs of your family. We are inviting every family to consider a $50 a month online donation to the parish and in return there will be no Religious Formation or Sacramental fees. This will allow families to also support the cost of utilities, staffing, building repairs, etc…
Obviously for those families who already donate $50 per month or more we would like you to continue and we will waive the fees. Currently more than 85% of our Religious Formation families donate $0 to St. Philip’s beyond their fee for class registration.
We know the whole economic picture of our society has changed as a result of Covid-19 but as we approach registration for next year we wanted to share our strategy for success. We hope you will join us as we move into the future together.
Yours in Ministry,
Fr. Bruce Janiga, Pastor & Peter O’Brien, Pastoral Associate