When your child was baptized, the priest addressed you saying:
“You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so, you are accepting the responsibility of training him/her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him/her up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?”
and you responded: “We do!”
This is why you take such an important, active part in the preparation of your child for First Eucharist. At St. Philip’s the family model is used in preparing children for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist. In this model parents are responsible for preparing their child to receive First Reconciliation and/or First Eucharist. Parents you are the primary teachers of the Catholic faith to your child. The time spent in teaching your child about our faith will touch the heart of your child forever.
Preparation for First Eucharist is offered once a year regardless of whether your child attends St. Philip’s Faith Formation or St. Philip’s School. Children who are in at least 2nd grade are eligible to prepare for both First Eucharist and First Reconciliation.
It is the policy of the Diocese of Crookston that the reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation precedes the reception of First Eucharist. Parents may delay the reception of the Sacraments if they feel their child is not ready to receive them.
Here is what you need to do as part of the preparation for the Sacrament:
The child preparing for the Sacrament of First Eucharist must be enrolled in St. Philip’s Faith Formation or St. Philip’s School. To register for St. Philip’s Faith Formation contact Kris Jensen at 441-4944 or register before or after Mass on September 9 and 10, 2017.
It is the Parish Policy that a parent/guardian attends the Parent Session for the particular Sacrament you will be preparing your child for (even if you attended a session or two last year or have gone to a session in the past). This Parent Session will give you a general overview of the Church’s teachings on Sacraments, bring you up to date about First Eucharist and provide you with the materials you need to prepare your child at home. This is a parent only session.
Prayer Partner Weekend is where your child is presented to the faith community at one of the weekend Masses (depending upon which one you signed up for at the Parent Session) as he/she begins his/her journey of preparing for the Sacrament. At this time, your child will receive their book. It is also a time for the faith community to keep you and your child in their prayers as you begin preparation.
Following approximately eight to ten weeks of preparation with your child, the child and a parent attend a Saturday morning session called Activity Morning. Attendance is strongly encouraged, as this is a time where the children meet together, do various activities and enhance their understanding of the Sacrament. We end the morning with a Mass for the entire family.
We hope that this process of preparation for these Sacraments will lead you and your child to a meaningful and joyous celebration of the Sacrament for their first time.
Should you have any questions, please contact Kris Jensen at 441-4944 or email kjensen@stphilipsbemidji.org
The Sacrament of the Eucharist
The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322 & 1323