Grades K-6: Christ In Us

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Grades 7-8: We Believe

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Dear Religious Formation Families:

I pray this letter finds you healthy, safe, and enjoying your summer. I believe we can all agree that the past several months have been difficult on everyone. Now more than ever, our patience and our faith have become essential tools for daily living. As the information related to COVID- 19 changes daily one thing remains certain: Christ is in us. We have the ability to control how we view and react to the uncertainty in our world. And, through the practice of our faith, we have the ability to demonstrate Christ to others.

As we prepare for this fall, I am calling on you to be Christ to one another and to our community more than ever. Over the past three months, I have spent hundreds of hours talking on the phone, answering emails, and meeting virtually with the goal of creating the safest and most meaningful way in which to deliver our Religious Formation classes and our sacraments this fall. Two weeks ago we announced our September schedule for First reconciliation and First Communion for the eighty families who missed those opportunities last spring. On August 1st, we will email our 160 (!) families who missed confirmation last spring with the new dates for their sacrament. I am grateful to all of you who exhibited patience during this time; and, I am grateful to all those who have assisted me in rescheduling these significant family celebrations.

Please know that I am constantly monitoring and discussing what plans and practices our local schools are putting in place. However, even with hundreds of staff members to support these guidelines, the task is still Herculean for those private and public schools. Therefore, with Respect for Life for All, as a guiding principle of our faith, I am letting you know that we will have a virtual program from September to December. In the past year, our publisher Sadlier has developed a new series, CHRIST IN US, for grades K - 6. This is a spiral curriculum which will allow for one essential question for everyone in the family. That question will be explored at various depths for each grade level. This approach will alleviate the already growing burden placed upon our families with several young children. The completion of these lessons can be achieved through our most flexible plan yet:

Option 1
Attend virtual meetings with catechists and work though the digital book and/or physical workbook. These meetings will occur on a Glory/Praise rotation as they always have. You will be contacted directly by your catechist with your meeting time.

Option 2
View a video on YouTube produced by me (or a member of our community) related to the content of the week and then complete a family activity related to the content which will be assigned by the catechist. This activity can be emailed to the catechist.

Option 3
Complete the digital book and/or physical workbook by Thursday of each week and check-in with the catechist.

My hope in offering this flexibility is that we can share our faith more openly as a family and with the larger community
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Look for an email in the last week of August with a September date to pick-up for your workbook and schedule of lessons for the upcoming year.

Finally, in October, I will be convening a committee to consider what safe in-person Religious Formation might look like in the spring and beyond. Please know under any plan, YOU WILL NOT BE “HELD BACK” OR FORCED TO RETURN IN PERSON IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE DOING SO! I want you to be assured of virtual options for the year. I pray many of you will volunteer to assist me on this committee.

Under any plan, I wish to continue to emphasize the importance of MASS AND CLASS. Attending mass in person is as much a personal choice as any other decision which involves entering larger crowds indoors these days; therefore, I am not requiring your attendance in person at mass this fall. If you cannot or do not wish to attend in person, please know that we continue to LIVESTREAM mass on our YouTube Channel. Please subscribe there and hit the notification button. Attending mass has never been more convenient, and during these times gathering “Around the Table” remains an essential part of communal prayer and spiritual growth.

While I look forward to a time when we can gather together as a community of faith, please know that I pray daily for you and your families. If you have any questions, please reach out to your catechist or to me via email at dre@st-pius-x.org. Please include your phone number and the best time and number at which to call you.

Prayerfully,

Kurt R. Kilanowski
Director for Religious Formation, St. Pius X