Family Discipleship at St. John the Evangelist

Fall 2024 Update:

As we actively seek a new Coordinator of Family Discipleship, our formal religious education class is on hold.  However, Children’s Liturgy of the Word  (CLOW) and Sacramental Preparation will continue to be offered!  Please join us for those anytime!

CLOW is offered at both the 10am and Noon Sunday Masses

For more information, please contact:
FamilyDiscipleship@saintjohnjackson.org

2024-25 Sacramental Preparation Schedule & Registration:

Faith Formation, Religious Education, or CCD is typically thought of as the Religion Classes for the kids who attend Public schools, but at St. John it is open to all students: public, private, and homeschooled.  Our Faith Formation program, now called Family Discipleship, is directly connected to the Sunday Mass and is for the whole family.  There are three main guiding principles that are leading us:

1) SUNDAY MASS IS THE CLASS. As the source and summit of the Christian life (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1324), everything we do should point toward and flow out of the Eucharist; that is where Jesus himself teaches and feeds us. 

2) PARENTS ARE THE PRIMARY EDUCATORS OF THEIR CHILDREN, our role at the parish is to help parents live out the promise they made at their child’s Baptism to raise them in the Catholic faith. We are here to assist you, the real teachers of your children. (CCC 2223)

3) SACRAMENTS MUST BE PRECEDED BY EVANGELIZING, FAITH, AND CONVERSION! (CCC 1072) When someone receives First Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, or ANY of the Sacraments, we want to know they have fallen in love with Jesus and his beautiful Church! We do not mechanically push people through a conveyor belt system like a manufactured product.

FAMILY DISCIPLESHIP  We meet most Sundays of the school year in the parish community center.  Please note that at least one parent/adult MUST attend class with your children.  Children, of any age, may not be dropped off or attend on their own.

MASS AS THE CLASS  At the 10am and noon Mass times we offer CHILDREN’S LITURGY OF THE WORD (CLOW), where we invite children  – preschool through 5th Grade – to the parish center during the first half of Mass for a reading of the Scriptures, the Creed, and prayers at an age-appropriate level.  This is not babysitting, but a way of helping children understand this part of the Mass on their level, and then they return to the church for the rest of Mass with their parish family.  Children’s Liturgy is a vital part of our Family Discipleship program and Mass attendance is the core – or you might say it’s the “source and summit” – of it.  It is expected that families registering for Family Discipleship are attending Sunday Mass together.