In the past, the religious education of youngsters was called “Sunday School,” or “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) is a unique way of providing religious education to students. This program promotes the belief that parents are the first and best teachers of their children. This program is also accommodates the busy schedules that families have to manage. We are hopeful and confident that this different delivery method will benefit students and their immediate and extended families and help to nurture the domestic Church.

     The family is the “domestic Church,” that is, in every Christian family the different aspects and functions of the life of the entire Church may be reflected: mission, catechesis, witness, prayer, etc. Indeed, in the same way as the Church, the family is a place in which the Gospel is transmitted and from which it extends.

    Parents are the primary educators of their children in the faith. Together with them, all members of the family play an active part in the education of the younger members.

     The family has a unique privilege: to transmit the Gospel by rooting it in the context of profound human values. Rooted in the family experience, the child’s Christian initiation consists in: 

• the awakening of the sense of God;

• the first steps in prayer;

• education of the moral conscience;

• formation in the Christian sense of human love, understood as a reflection of the love of God the Father, the Creator.

 It is, indeed, a Christian education more witnessed to than taught, more occasional than systematic, more ongoing and daily than structured into periods. 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 only on the third Sunday each month for a total of nine onsite meetings, held September through May, and will be taught one lesson of four required 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.

 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, parents learn to use the Pflaum Publishing Company liturgy-based instructional materials that include: Catechism Handbook, Teaching Guide and Gospel Weeklies. Parents also have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss teaching strategies and ideas for home instruction. 

     Parents engage in conversation about the ideas and topics that are important at each of the grade levels. The Gospel Weeklies program also offers online supplementary support and assistance for the parents and their children available on the Pflaum Publishing Company website:   http://www.pflaumweeklies.com/

     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 are in Grades Pre-K through 8 who are not enrolled in a Catholic school, must “accept the responsibility of training theirchildren in the practice of the faith.”  The Family Centered Religious Education Program is a practical way to fulfill this obligation.​

  2022-23 Program Schedule

   Sept. 18
   Oct. 16
   Nov. 20
   Jan. 15
   Feb. 19
   Mar. 19
   Apr. 16
   May 21                                                                 

   In response to the Diocese of Pittsburgh covid Directives for Parish Faith Formation, classes will be held at the following locations: 

1) in St. Augustine's Church
2) Rear Meeting Room of St. Augustine's Church basement
3) Front Meeting Room of St. Augustine's Church basement
4) Chapel of the Our Lady of the Angels Parish House (rectory)
* Parent Classes will be held at the Capuchin Hall 

 All of these spaces will allow us to maintain on-site classes while allowing for social distancing. Remote instruction will be available via live stream of the classes or by watching an recorded archive of the class session uploaded to our parish website. Specific class locations will be determined based on class size.

  Lessons 

  As in previous years, we will continue to use the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies. Lessons for the three off weeks will be passed along to parents during the one, monthly, on site, Parent Meeting.  
 

  Weekly Work
 

  As in previous years, 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. 

    Your child(ren's) catechist (teacher) will also post supplemental activities on the Catechist page of our parish website: https://olasmg.org/catechists 

    Please check this page to make sure your child sees and completes the assignments.

These assignments can be:

1) from the FORMED website
2) from the weekly Pflaum lesson
3) another activity

   Every week parents are responsible for:

1) completing the weekly Pflaum lesson with your child(ren)
2) completing and turning in the lesson assessment
3) checking the Catechist page of our parish website
4) completing and turning in the assignment(s) posted on this page

  * directions on how to turn in this work (scanned and emailed, dropped off) will be posted along with the lesson

    Your child's catechist will review all assignments and communicate regarding your child's progress.

 
  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