Confirmation Parents
Confirmation LEVEL TWO Snack Sign-Ups CLICK HERE
We at St. Charles honor the fact that parents are the primary educators of their children, and we view our program as support/reinforcement of what parents are already doing.
Here are some ways for parents to be involved in the Confirmation preparation process:
- Make family meal-time a priority.
“In my years exploring family spirituality, I came to realize that Jesus was onto something when he invited us to break bread in memory of him. Research study after research study has contributed to a mass of evidence showing how regular family meals (5 or more times a week) are good for what ails us. They offer stability during stress and transition. They lower the risks of cigarette use, alcohol use, drug use, and sexual activity in teens and pre-teens. They lower the risk of eating disorders in teens and increase the likelihood of success in school as well as socially. Regular family meals increase children’s health, self-esteem, personal identity, and academic achievement. And though I’ve yet to see any research data on this aspect, I’m convinced regular family meals are also a powerful way to pass on a living faith and communicate a family’s values.” -Tom McGrath (author of Raising Faith-Filled Kids)
- Click here to read "10 Tips for Better Family Mealtimes"
- Attend Mass as a family. Family Mass attendance is foundational to everything we are working together to instill in our young people as they prepare to live out their faith in their daily lives now and in their future.
- Celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation (a.k.a. Confession/Penance) as a family. This sacrament is offered every Saturday from 3:30-4pm in the Reconciliation Room in St. Charles Church (also used as the quiet room during Masses). This is the glass room next to the sanctuary, closest to the parking lot door. We also offer special times to receive this sacrament during Advent and Lent. Another option is to call the parish office, the priests of St. Charles Church will be happy to meet with you at a time of convenience.
- Follow-up on the online safety course by having a discussion with your child using the Parent/Candidate Discussion Guides found on the link to the right titled "online safety courses." For our records, for the purpose of reporting to the Archdiocese, please send us an email after you have had this parent/teen discussion. Thanks!
- Have family discussions after Candidate Sessions. Ask your teen about what they talked about that day in Confirmation prep and see if they have any questions about the topic of the day.
- Provide snacks and/or volunteer to set-up and clean-up the snacks. Click here to sign-up. Teens love snacks and parents are the ones to provide this for them. Parents at St. Charles Church have always been great about coming in to set-up/clean-up the snack table and to provide the teeens with tasty snacks for our candidate sessions and retreat. Please send non-perishable snacks to the sessions with your candidate and we will store what we don't use immediately for later use. We are also always thankful for fresh baked cookies and will use these the day they are brought in.
Note: Since we will be going to Mass at 5 pm, we will honor the Eucharistic fast and not eat one hour before receiving Holy Communion. Go here to read about this practice (scroll down to the section called "Communion Rite", 6th paragraph in that section that begins with, "Those who receive Communion..."). - Work a shift with our youth at the Parish Fall Festival. The youth ministry booth is the dart toss. Teens are not allowed to handle the money, so we need adults to help. Consider signing up at the same time as your teen for a fun experience! Please go the home page and look for the sign-up link.
- Encourage teen candidate responsibility: We support parents to encourage their teen to take the responsibility of keeping track of dates and deadlines for the Confirmation program and to contact us if a conflict or concern should arise.