Preparation Programs for Sacraments – 2025
| Reconciliation Year 3 | First Holy Communion Year 3 | Confirmation Year 6 |
| 2025 Reconciliation Schedule | 2025 First Holy Communion Schedule | 2025 Confirmation Schedule |
A Message from Father Leo
Dear Parents/Carers,
In this letter I would like to provide some important information regarding the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation and the obligatory meetings and programs of preparation for them which will be offered during 2025.
Enrolment Requirements
If your child is baptised Catholic and will be in either Year 3 and above or Year 6 and above in 2025, then the time has come to consider your child’s enrolment in a program of preparation. Students in Year 6 and above, if they have already completed the programs for Reconciliation and Holy Communion, will be able to participate in a program for Confirmation beginning early in Term 1. Students in Year 3 and above will be able to participate in programs of preparation for Reconciliation and First Holy Communion beginning in Term 2 and Term 3, respectively. The dates, although subject to change, are set out below. To cover the cost of materials, a donation will be expected. The amount is yet to be set.
Further Requirements
The program for each Sacrament will consist mainly of four lessons. These lessons will be preceded by a meeting for parents/carers only, to discern whether or not you as parents/carers and your child, are ready for the program. The criteria which will be used for this discernment are summarised below. Preceding the program for Confirmation, there will be one such meeting in February. Preceding the programs for Reconciliation and Holy Communion, there will be one such meeting in May. These meetings are obligatory. If it happens that a parent or carer is unable to attend this meeting, a private meeting with me will need to be arranged before the application for enrolment can be made. For those enrolled, the four lessons for each Sacrament will then follow. On the Saturday of the weekend that lesson two is returned, a review lesson for all candidates will be conducted by our catechists in the parish meeting room, to check on progress. To provide an option, this same lesson conducted on Saturday afternoon will be conducted also on the Monday afternoon following. The program concludes with a retreat day for all the candidates enrolled in a particular program. During that day, amongst other things, the candidates will practice the particular ceremony.
The parents/carer are expected to accompany their child to Mass each week of the program and oversee the satisfactory completion by the child of the four weekly lessons which make up the program. As with many other commitments in life, the more that is invested in terms of time and effort, the more benefit there will be. Our parish Catechists will no longer be teaching the lessons. They will oversee the management of the programs and the retreat days.
Basic Structure of all the Programs
Week 1:
The program will begin at the parish Masses (Saturday Vigil 6pm or Sunday 9am). After their attendance at Mass, the parents/carers together with their child, will be given an application form.
(During the course of the program, if attendance at a weekend Mass is impossible, attendance at Mass on Tuesday (6pm) may be an alternative, by way of exception. Please contact myself or Therese McQuade if attending a weekend Mass is not possible.)
Week 2:
At either of the weekend parish Masses, the completed application form is returned and the material for Lesson One collected. During Mass the enrolled children will be presented to the parish.
Week 3:
After attendance at Mass, the completed Lesson One is returned and Lesson Two is collected.
Week 4:
On either the Saturday afternoon beginning at 4pm or on the Monday afternoon beginning at 4pm, the candidates attend a review lesson in the meeting room. This lesson will be conducted by our Catechists.
After attendance at Mass, the completed Lesson Two is to be returned and Lesson Three is collected.
Week 5:
After attendance at Mass, the completed Lesson Three is returned and Lesson Four is collected.
Week 6:
After attendance at Mass, Lesson Four is returned.
Conclusion:
Candidates attend a retreat day.
The Promise made at Baptism
When a child is baptised, the parents make a solemn promise to God that they will raise and educate their child in the practice of the Catholic faith. There is a simple reason for this promise. The development of a child’s faith, as it is for the development of everything else about a child, depends entirely on the help of the parents. This is the reason for the obligatory meetings with parents/carers before the programs, and the reason why the lessons are to be given by the parents/carers. The whole program is arranged with a view to helping you, the parents/carers, fulfil an obligation which is, in the first place, yours. It is because of the promise made at Baptism that other very important expectations arise, namely, attendance at Sunday Mass and regular daily prayer.
God’s Third Commandment
There are many powerful forces at work in our world today intent on erasing from people’s lives any thought of God and of his rightful claims over us as our Creator and Redeemer. Attendance at Sunday Mass and daily prayer are matters of critical importance when it comes to pushing back against these anti-God forces and in showing publicly and together where our allegiance truly lies. According to the third of God’s Commandments, Sunday belongs to God. For Catholics, the principal way we keep the Third Commandment is by participating in Mass which is, as the Church teaches: ‘the summit and source of the entire Christian life’ (cf. Catechism 1324-1327).
We honour God also, and grow in faith, by personal prayer. Referring to the necessity of prayer, the Catechism quotes the renowned Saint and Doctor of the Church, Alphonsus Liguori. ‘Those who pray are certainly saved; those who do not pray are certainly damned’ (2744). If you as parents/carers do not attend weekly Mass and pray every day, your child never will. Participation in the program is meant to help you, if you are not already committed, to commit to these practices now and into the future, both for your own sake and for the sake of your children. Receiving a sacrament should not be regarded as a social event or as some kind of marker of progress in the journey through schooling. The sacraments are a vital and indispensable help to the flourishing of a personal friendship with Christ.
I look forward to working with you and helping you and your children grow in your love for Christ who is, as he himself declared, ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6).
Yours sincerely,
Fr Leo Duck (Parish Priest)
Criteria for discernment about readiness to participate in Sacramental Programs:
Do I want to grow in faith and in a personal friendship with Christ?
Do I want to show that I belong to the Church and support the Church?
Do I pray every day?
Do I attend Sunday Mass?
Am I prepared to accept and fulfil all the requirements of the preparation program?
Am I prepared to continue to learn about and practise my faith?