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Every educational system exists to help parents provide their children with the tools needed to enter adulthood. Religious education is no different. Our program provides young people with the tools needed for them to mature into faith-filled adults.

The Religious Education Program gives the support and encouragement parents need to embrace and enjoy this relationship with their children. Without parental involvement and support, we will accomplish little. We hope to make this involvement a comfortable and rewarding part of each family's life. It is our experience that children who come from homes where there is no encouragement of the faith are frequently absent from class, either physically or mentally. When parents practice faith themselves and encourage their children to share that practice, their children are generally positive and ready for learning when they come to religion class.

We need parents to:

• Be true to their commitment to nurture the religious dimension of their family's life.
• Attend Mass regularly on Sundays and Holy Days with their children from early years on. We encourage them to do this as a family.
• Ask their children about their classes and whatever work they bring home. Please don't be fooled by dodges: "Oh nothing." "It was boring." We just prayed and stuff." "Showed a movie." "Just talked."
• Contact the religious education office if there is a situation we should know about: e.g., a hearing problem, death in the family, divorce or illness. This communication between us is essential. The information will be held in confidence, while allowing us to meet your child's needs better.
• Attend the sacramental preparation meetings. These sessions are an obligation in supporting your child's preparation that cannot be neglected. We consider them a "must," an essential prerequisite for the child's admittance to the sacrament.

Signs of Catechesis

The National Catechetical Directory identifies the following as the four signs of religious faith that should be interwoven in all of our catechesis:

LIFE: Sensitivity to the experience of living that our students bring with them to class (no matter how young). God reveals himself in the fabric of their lives. We share our own life stories.

WORD: Exploring Sacred Scripture in a manner that is on the level of the students' understanding, and yet true to the nature of the Scriptures expressed in Biblical scholarship. God's Word is expressed in human language. We experience the Sacred Story that has enriched our faith community.

CHURCH: Examination of an identification with the faith community in all of its aspects. The Church reveres its covenant relationship with God, yet reaches out to the world. We make the Church's ongoing story our own.

PRAYER: Personal and group prayer; ways of praying; formal and spontaneous prayer; liturgy; sacraments. We strengthen our relationships with God, both as individuals and as the Church.