In the past, the religious education of youngsters was called “Sunday School,” “Catechism Class,” or “CCD.” For the past five years,  the Catholic community serving Bloomfield, Garfield, and Lawrenceville, has adopted an innovative approach to religious education, the Family Centered Religious Education Program (FCREP).  A unique way of providing religious education to students, this program is based on the understanding that parents are the first and best teachers of their Catholic Faith to their children while also accomodating the busy schedules that families have to manage. 

  The family is the “domestic Church."  The different aspects and functions of the life of the Church may be reflected in every Christian family: mission, catechesis, witness, prayer, etc. Similar to the Church, the family is a place where children learn about Jesus and His Church.

  Parents are the primary educators of their children in the faith. The family has the unique privilege to transmit the Gospel by rooting it in the context of profound human values. Grounded in the family experience, the child learns about a life with Jesus through:

• an awakening of the sense of God;

• learning the first steps in prayer;

• education of the moral conscience;

• understanding the Christian sense of human love as a reflection of the love of God the Father, the Creator.

  It is a Christian education more witnessed to than taught, more occasional than systematic, more ongoing and daily. In this family catechesis, the role of grandparents is of growing importance. Their wisdom and sense of the religious is often decisive in creating a true Christian climate. (General Directory for Catechesis 255) What this change means is that parents and in some cases grandparents will become a more integral part of the faith formation of their children and grandchildren. 
   
  So, instead of the typical weekly class where students meet the catechists every Sunday, students will attend a formal class with their catechist on the third Sunday of each month for a total of nine onsite meetings, held September through May, and will be taught one of the required four monthly lessons. During the next three weeks of the month, for about thirty minutes of instruction per week, it will be the parents’ or grandparents’ responsibility to teach their children or grandchildren the remaining three lessons. We provide all user-friendly materials and resources in both paper copies and online so that instruction is practical and doable.

  Third Sunday of the month classes meet after Holy Mass on Sunday at Our Lady of the Angels Parish, St. Augustine Church, for ninety minutes.  While the students are in their formal class with their catechists, parents attend a concurrent class with the Director of Faith Formation.  During that time various faith and parenting related topics will be addressed. 

  The Church has always taught that parents are the primary educators of their children and this is made explicit in the Rite of Baptism and the Baptismal promises. Consequently, parents who have children in Grades Pre-K through 8 who are not enrolled in a Catholic school, must “accept the responsibility of training their children in the practice of the faith.”  The Family Centered Religious Education Program is a practical way to fulfill this obligation.​

2023-24 Program Schedule

TBA                                                               

Lessons 

As in previous years, we will continue to use the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies. Lessons for the three at home weeks will be passed along to parents during the one, monthly, on site, Parent Meeting.  The Gospel Weeklies program offers online supplementary support and assistance for the parents and their children on the Pflaum Publishing Company website:   http://www.pflaumweeklies.com/

Weekly Work

Parents are responsible for working through the weekly lessons with their children and then complete and turn in the Pflaum lessons assessments at the end of each lesson. 

Every week parents are responsible for:

1) completing the weekly Pflaum lesson with your child(ren)
2) completing and turning in the lesson assessment

 
Program Websites

Parents will need to create an account on FORMED to access the  videos, audio talks, etc. that their children may be asked to use.  Directions for signing up for FORMED may be found here: https://olasmg.org/formed