Family Faith Formation
A program that works with you, but won’t work without you!
Our Faith Formation program is not a school-based curriculum involving textbooks and tests. Rather it is a support system for families who wish to be faithful Catholics, and pass that faith on to their children.
As the primary catechists of their children, parents play a vital role in handing on the faith through both word and deed. We cannot hope to produce faithful children simply by passing on information! This is why Family Faith Formation involves prayer, projects, discussions, and activities, as well as teaching facts.
In particular it will be expected that families enrolled in the parish faith formation programs will practice memorizing basic Catholic prayers, regularly attend Mass (whether in person or remotely), and ensure each child’s understanding of the doctrine, sacraments, and moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Doing so will of course require that parents are themselves prepared spiritually through regular confession, reception of the Holy Eucharist. If there are any impediments to parents fully practicing the faith, the church is ready to help!
We understand that this can seem to be a daunting task! The parish Faith Formation Department’s role is to support parents and guardians in their efforts – but in the end, it will be the families themselves who are responsible for the program’s success or failure. If you do not think that this will be possible for your family, we encourage you to contact St. Joseph’s for consultation or consider taking a year off from your child’s catechesis to reflect on how you might best prepare for this role.
As the primary catechists of their children, parents play a vital role in handing on the faith through both word and deed. We cannot hope to produce faithful children simply by passing on information! This is why Family Faith Formation involves prayer, projects, discussions, and activities, as well as teaching facts.
In particular it will be expected that families enrolled in the parish faith formation programs will practice memorizing basic Catholic prayers, regularly attend Mass (whether in person or remotely), and ensure each child’s understanding of the doctrine, sacraments, and moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Doing so will of course require that parents are themselves prepared spiritually through regular confession, reception of the Holy Eucharist. If there are any impediments to parents fully practicing the faith, the church is ready to help!
We understand that this can seem to be a daunting task! The parish Faith Formation Department’s role is to support parents and guardians in their efforts – but in the end, it will be the families themselves who are responsible for the program’s success or failure. If you do not think that this will be possible for your family, we encourage you to contact St. Joseph’s for consultation or consider taking a year off from your child’s catechesis to reflect on how you might best prepare for this role.
Family of Faith Materials
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Our primary resource is the ground-breaking Family of Faith program from Sophia Institute Press. This is a 4 year series that follows the four pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Once a family has gone through all four years, the cycle simply begins again (with the same resources) because now the children are four years older!
Each year families are instructed (either in person or via video as allowed) once a month for 8 months to learn the year's topic and children's activities. Parents / Guardians are taught that month's topics to prepare them to share for weekly discussions and activities with their children (activities are targeted to various ages between Kindergarten and 6th Grade). |
If you are in Family Faith Formation (with children in grades K-6), you will need to purchase the paper resources if you do not have them already. For first year Family of Faith, you will need the Volume 1: Parent's Guide and Children’s Book.* These can be filled out by children or kept blank for future use with activities being done on separate paper or on a computer. (If you enrolled in the special Family of Faith program with us in 2019, you will need Volume 2: “The Sacraments.”)
Detailed Ordering Instructions:
Detailed Ordering Instructions:
| fof_ordering_instructions.pdf |
Here are the first two months reading materials:
| english_parent_y1_september_october_st._joseph_catholic_church_modesto_ca.pdf |
| english_children_y1_september_october_st._joseph_catholic_church_modesto_ca.pdf |
Family of Faith Participation
Here are the steps to complete each month (September - April):
1. VIEW parental teaching session on the STJMOD YouTube Family Faith Formation Playlist near the beginning of each month.
2. TEACH your children throughout that month using the Family of Faith materials. (See "Ordering Your Materials" above.)
3. ATTEND (Optional) Zoom Group meeting(s) for fellowship, subject help, or teaching tips with STJ catechists (email lklinger@stjmod.com for participation information).
4. REPORT (via email to lklinger@stjmod.com) how each month went with a short write-up of your family's experience. You can even include pictures of your activities!
1. VIEW parental teaching session on the STJMOD YouTube Family Faith Formation Playlist near the beginning of each month.
2. TEACH your children throughout that month using the Family of Faith materials. (See "Ordering Your Materials" above.)
3. ATTEND (Optional) Zoom Group meeting(s) for fellowship, subject help, or teaching tips with STJ catechists (email lklinger@stjmod.com for participation information).
- MONDAY 4:00-5:00pm Catechist: Mrs. Pat LeSage
- TUESDAYS 3:00-4:00pm Catechist: Mrs. Joanne Serpa
- TUESDAYS 6:30-7:30pm Catechist: Mrs. Pat LeSage
- WEDNESDAYS 6:30-7:30pm Catechist: Mrs. Tanya Vega
- FRIDAYS 9:30-10:30am Catechist: Miss Diana Perez (Bilingual Spanish available in the meeting)
4. REPORT (via email to lklinger@stjmod.com) how each month went with a short write-up of your family's experience. You can even include pictures of your activities!
