Recognizing that family life is the most essential component of a person’s faith formation, it is important to nurture spiritual growth within the context of that environment. Research on the spiritual formation of children is indisputable, parents are the primary influencers of their children’s faith lives. While this influence is most readily evident with younger children, teens and tweens are also significantly affected by the ways that parents model their faith. Although teens will often push back as part of their own development as individual beings, children of all ages are keenly aware of parents’ actions and perspectives.
Components of Children’s Faith Formation
To acknowledge and respect the influence of parents and the importance of faith as a lifestyle, our formation emphasis will be on faith lived in family and community.
- Our approach incorporates parent feedback on where and when formation takes place, accommodating a stated need for flexibility for families to create and adjust their own schedules.
- Primary resources provided for each child are a grade-level Finding God workbook, Gospel Weeklies book and weekly scripture sheets, and access to the WanderlightTM faith game which can now be played on either a tablet or computer.
- The Saint Anne Faith Formation website – www.saintannefaithformation.org – offers outlines for each week, direct access to each Session Review, and a brief, entertaining teaching video to accompany each Finding God session. The site is in the process of being updated to include more resources for families and parents.
There are three important ways families participate: as parents, as families, and as a faith community.
Parents
- Parent forums provide information on ways to discuss faith with your children, recommendations for use of the Finding God and Gospel Weeklies materials, and other helpful information.
- Drop-ins create opportunity to share ideas, solicit advice from other parents, and to be inspired and encouraged by one another.
Family
- Share in 25 Finding God formation sessions as a family at home on your schedule.
- Each week’s sessions are aligned by topic across grades so that families with multiple elementary-age children can all participate in formation at the same time together, creating an opportunity for children to also learn from siblings.
- There are two ways to share in these sessions:
- as individual families
- as small faith communities of two to four families which we will help you form
- Seek deeper understanding of God’s word through family engagement with the discussion and activities contained in Gospel Weeklies.
Faith Community
- Attend Mass each week to hear God’s word, pray, and share in Eucharist with our parish community as the body of Christ.
- Participate in six Family Faith Sessions throughout the program year. Family Faith Sessions provide opportunity for families to come together in to learn and share faith through activities and service.
Some ways that parents can effectively model faith throughout their lives are through personal involvement in faith activities within the church community, as a family, and as individuals. This involvement can include participating in daily and/or weekly Mass, praying and reading from the Bible, engaging in adult formation programs, participating in church service projects as a family, employing faith traditions as a basis when making decisions, and sharing faith with their children through formation activities and personal witness.
We look forward to welcoming your family
to Saint Anne Faith Formation!
To register for Children’s Faith Formation and Journey – click here
First Reconciliation and First Eucharist preparation information
Middle school Journey program information
For information or questions, please contact:
Mary Jane Kurowski, Director of Lifelong Faith Formation
mjkurowski@stannebarrington.org
847.620.3071
Marianne Bondi, Administrative Assistant
mbondi@stannebarrington.org
847.620.3068