Faith Formation is a lifetime journey for everyone - at every age and stage of life. Since we believe that religious formation occurs within a family and community context, our thrust, educationally, is toward helping adults become aware of their own identity as baptized Christians and members of a global community and to lead them to celebrate this identity. We see our direct formal education of children as a complement to this essential responsibility of the family and community.
The Faith Formation Office invites adults (must be 18yrs. and older) to serve as Catechists for children from 1st through 8th grade. Faith formation groups meet in the parish center on:
- Monday's 5:00-6:00pm and 6:30-7:30pm
- Tuesday's 5:00-6:00pm and 6:30-7:30pm
- Wednesday's 4:00-5:00pm and 5:30-6:30pm
Please call or stop into the office if you are able to help at any of these sessions.
Catechists, Co-Catechists, and Hall Monitors will receive a discount on their child's registration.
Volunteer catechists are invited to teach small groups of around 12 children. We also have opportunities for volunteer catechists to work one on one with children who have special needs. Volunteers are also invited to assist at First Communion and Confirmation celebrations. The volunteer would greet the guests and give them a worship aid, would help the children to find their places, and would usher the people to Communion.
For More Information Please Contact:
Mrs.Angie Petty
Director of Faith Formation
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631-587- 4717 X104
Catechists
Catechists are volunteers who share their faith with the children of our parish. All classes are held in the parish center. The ideal group size is 10-12 children. Therefore many catechists are needed. Please consider sharing your faith with a small group of children.
Two catechist meetings are offered to discuss the content of upcoming lessons and to keep the catechists apprised of what’s new in the parish. The meetings begin in the O’Connell Room with prayer, general remarks and information. Class lists and catechist guides are given out at the first meeting in September. Catechists are asked to call the parents of the children in their group to inform them of the start date, classroom number and directions, if needed. The Director and Faith Formation Staff provide calendars, lesson plans, and student handouts. All do their best to support catechists in their ministry.
We offer a catechist meeting just for new catechists in September before the classes begin. At this meeting, we give the new catechists a little more instruction so that they are well prepared when first starting out.
We invite all catechists to an end of the year evaluation meeting. This meeting gives us the opportunity to see what worked well, what should be let go of and what needed to be changed. We value your feedback and use your comments in panning for the upcoming year.
Virtus
The office of Child Protection in the Diocese of Rockville Centre requires all adults who volunteer to work with children to undergo a background check and participate in a VIRTUS training session.
VIRTUS sessions will be given at St. Joseph’s in the Fall. Please call the office to confirm the date. If you have not yet participated in a VIRTUS session, please sign up online at www.virtus.org VIRTUS® Online (virtusonline.org) and click on the “registration” button and then scroll down to “Rockville Centre” diocese and follow from there.
