Faith Formation is an opportunity to encounter the Living Christ. We, at
St. Bartholomew, strive to provide the knowledge our children need to walk closer with Jesus. With this knowledge, a personal relationship with Jesus is the reward. He is the strength and the light needed for our lifelong spiritual journey.
St. Bartholomew’s Faith Formation Program for Children does this through a diverse faith environment, using the six tasks of catechesis that is dedicated to helping each and every child recognize their individual faith potential.
We are committed to maintaining a Catholic community of companions on the journey in their faith development and towards global service, and life-long learning.
We live this out by showing respect to all people, by being responsible for our actions, by showing reverence and by making right choices.
Faith Formation for families in the parish will be accomplished in partnership with parents and the parish. We will work in partnership to help our families develop a relationship with Christ and help the families strenghten the Domestic Church. Families will participate in liturgical based curriculum at home and attend virtual gatherings twice a month to maintain our Catholic community.
Faith Formation is significantly different from Religious Education. Religious Education is focused on teaching doctrine, precepts, etc., while Faith Formation supports a relationship with Jesus and the Church. It is found that through building a relationship with Jesus, one learns the doctrine of the Church. It is much easier to move from the heart to the head but not as easy to move from the head to the heart. We want our children to KNOW JESUS in their hearts…not just know things about Jesus and about the Church in their heads.
Learning about and living the principles of our Catholic faith is a lifelong process and not one intended to cover just those “Special” events (Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, etc.) in the lives of Catholics.
You as parents dedicated your child at his/her Baptism and made the commitment to educate him/her in the teachings of the Catholic Church. It is precisely for this reason that ALL baptized Catholic children and youth from first grade through tenth grade not in a parochial school are EXPECTED to attend formal faith formation sessions every year. We, at St. Bartholomew extend this opportunity to children in Pre-K and Kindergarten.
The faith formation responsibility not only entails enrolling the children in a formal Faith Formation program but also ensuring they attend each week and worship at Mass takes place each weekend as a family.