We continue to look to the fall and re-imagining what Religious Formation classes will look like. We have just received directives from the Archdiocese of Newark regarding classes. Until at least January there will be no in person, Religious Formation classes allowed. Knowing that this was a possibility we have been planning for a situation that we hoped would never come.

As of now, this is what we are planning for the education of your children in the Faith.
Classroom Based Classes Grades 1 thru 6 will receive a textbook to work on at home with the hope that we will return to the classroom with them in January. If for some reason you feel it would be better for your child to do their work online, we can provide log on credentials so they can access the material.

Family Based Classes Grades 1 thru 6 we will provide you with Gospel Weekly worksheets that correspond with the Sunday scripture readings that can be completed each week with the hope of starting our meetings again in January. The Gospel Weeklies will continued to be a resource after we return. We will have the packet of worksheets available for your child in September. 

Grades 7 & 8 Confirmation preparation classes will receive a textbook to work on at home with the hope that we will return to the classroom with them in January. They will only be able to do their work in their textbooks.

For all grades levels we will have the books/worksheets available by the beginning of September along with a schedule of what chapters to cover each week. We will let you know when you can come and pick up your child’s material.

Besides the material that you will work on at home, we would encourage you to come to mass as a family and celebrate the Eucharist, the Source and Summit of our Faith. We would like to gear the 10:00 mass to the children and the homily will touch on the coming week’s lesson that you will be doing at home. Fr. Bruce and I are planning on a weekly reflection that we will have available to you

Please remember that Registration has begun for the 2020-2021year. To help us with planning please complete the forms that are available online on our Website as soon as possible. In light of the situation this year we are keeping the registration fee the same, there will be no increase. Although part of the year will be remote learning, the cost of running the program has not changed. If there is a financial difficulty in your family please let Fr. Bruce or I know.  We want all families to be part of our program. I hope all of you will continue to be part of our program in the fall.
 

August 2020
 
Dear Religious Formation Families,

Although we will start the year with remote learning, we hope to be back in the classroom by January. As you complete your registration form we will still need to know which program you would like to participate in. Below are the choices of  classes in our program.
 
We are continuing 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 (7^th & 8^th) 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)
 

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