For love of me you came to earth; You gave your life for me.
So every day you give me now, I give back happily. Take all my laughter, all my tears, each thought, each word, each deed, and let them be my all-day prayer to help all those in need. Amen.
Dear Holy People of God,
Warm Greetings in Christ Jesus. After a period of reflection, discussion and discernment, I would like to communicate to you that I have decided to put together what I believe to be a much more simple but profound Faith Formation Program for our parish, built on eight pillars:
1. An in depth study of the Bible, Old and New Testament;
2. A study of the seven Sacraments, of Initiation, Communion and Service;
3. A deep study and immersion into the meaning and practice of Christian Prayer, with focus on Catholic Traditional Spiritual Practices, such as, The Holy Rosary; The Stations of the Cross; Lectio Divina; Taize Prayer; Ignatian Examen; Eucharistic Adoration; etc.
4. A study of the Ten Commandments as the path to human freedom and happiness;
5. A study and an immersion in the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy; and the various Ministries here at Ste. Anne's;
6. A study and an immersion into the Catholic Liturgy and Catholic Music, especially the Holy Mass as the center of our Catholic Identity, with particular focus on participation in our weekend and other liturgies at our parish Church here at Ste. Anne's;
7. The Creed - understanding and defending the faith/apologetics; and
8. Families as Schools of Faith - working together with parents whose kids are in Faith Formation.
Fr. Denis and I are working on a booklet, the Ste. Anne's Faith Formation Handbook. Going forward, this is the Handbook that we will use for Faith Formation in our parish. I promise you, it will be simple, user-friendly, attuned to the ages of the kids, and above all, very engaging. Kids and young people like to be challenged. It will be a Handbook that I believe will be spiritually beneficial not just to kids in Faith Formation, but to adults as well. It is my hope that this new structure whose content is not new, would offer a more engaging Faith Formation experience to our kids, starting September 2021. I would like to see kids in the Faith Formation Program as active agents in our parish family. They should not be spectators or distant. I look forward to an exciting year of Faith Formation. Please, you are welcome to register your kids, either through our parish website or in our parish office. In Jesus and Mary, Fr. Maurice.