Sunday School (Pre-School & Kindergarten Ages 3-5)
The Early Childhood years are an important time in a child’s faith formation journey. The young child has a unique understanding of God’s unconditional love, and a natural receptivity to the awe and wonder of the mystery of God. The St. Jude Sunday School program uses a balanced curriculum targeting the young child’s open heart with tangible experiences of God’s presence. This program includes prayer experiences, crafts, music and games which are all developmentally designed for your child’s particular age and stage of life. Sessions take place during the 9:00 am Mass on select Sundays of the year. Children are brought to their assigned classroom just prior to the start of the 9:00 am Mass and picked up immediately following Mass.
Tentative Sunday School Dates (14 sessions) are:
September 15 & 22; October 6 & 27; November 3 & 10; January 5 & 12; February 2 & 9; March 9 & 16; April 6 & 27
Families Living Faith (In-Person Learning for Grades 1 - 6)
In our Families Living Faith (FLF) program, children come together at St. Jude for an hour and a half session once per month. Curriculum and workbooks come from Our Sunday Visitor’s “Alive in Christ”. In these sessions, children are introduced to a new unit of study with catechists in age-appropriate classrooms. Catechists will teach topics from the three chapters in each unit and will keep the children engaged through activities and supplemental videos when available. Parents are then provided with an outline of the topics covered and any resources to continue the conversation at home. Children will then complete the unit review before their next session to ensure that they are grasping what is being taught.
Families Called to Table (Home Learning for Grades 1 - 6)
Families Called to Table (FCT) is a completely homeschool Faith Formation program. Curriculum and workbooks come from Our Sunday Visitor’s “Alive in Christ”. Families receive curriculum support, including children’s workbooks and scripted parent lesson plans. To assist parents in leading their child’s faith formation completely at home, grade-level video lessons will be available that teach the first chapter of each unit. Parents are then expected to use the resources provided to teach the next two chapters of each unit at home and complete the unit review with their child to assure that teaching occurs at home.
Confirmation Preparation Programming:
St. Jude aims to inspire teens and their families to help them grow in the knowledge of the Catholic Church and create habits in faith practices of gratitude, prayer and Sacraments. In the 2024-2025 curriculum year, we will begin using “Chosen: Your Journey to Confirmation,” a curriculum built by Ascension Press for Confirmation preparation. “Chosen” is a catechetical journey for teenage Confirmation candidates (also called Confirmandi) and is designed to provide the essential intellectual and spiritual catechesis that is so vital to sacramental preparation. St. Jude families will have access to the online materials for this program while being given a teen workbook as well as parent and sponsor guides. Families will also have access to the Hallow app, a supplement to our program which introduces many facets of prayer as various steps in our journey through life require prayer. Our office staff as well as our catechists will be introducing meditations, prayers and music from the app to the students throughout the year. We will also schedule parent sessions through the year using material from Chosen, Presence, The Search, Symbolon, along with other Catholic resources such as Ascension Press, Augustine Institute, Formed.org and Word on Fire.
First Eucharist/First Reconciliation Preparation Programming:
Christ promised "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age"(Mt. 28:20). In order to continue to be present throughout the ages until His return, Christ instituted the Eucharist. He entrusted the Eucharist to His Church and it continues to be a source of communion and nourishment for his faithful. The Eucharist is a direct encounter with Christ. The Catholic Church confesses that the Eucharist is not simply a mere symbol, but the actual Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Expect more formation to be coming for parents and First Communicants as you prepare for the reception of these sacraments.