Children and Youth Faith Formation

Faith Formation, Sacramental Preparation, and Youth Ministry 2024–2025



Children's Faith Formation: Grades 1–6
Sessions will begin in October and will be held every other Sunday (generally) from 10 a.m.–11:15 a.m. in Mahler Hall. Teachers will work from the Be My Disciples textbooks by RCL Benziger. To help with classroom management, parents are asked to sign up to be present in a classroom throughout the year. Ideally, this would be a classroom that your child is not in, as this will help them form trusting relationships with their teachers while also helping to foster their independence in their classrooms. A link for classroom signups will be sent via email in September

In order to communicate effectively and to help parents and families, weekly email newsletters will be sent out to families through an online resource called S'more. These newsletters will contain schedule reminders, an "unpacking" of the coming weekend Mass readings for parents and older kids, another video for younger kids with a message about the coming weekend Mass readings, children's bulletin, music videos, and a family discussion question  regarding faith and life. We hope you find this helpful with family scheduling as well as in your family faith life.

First Reconciliation and First Eucharist Preparation
Preparation for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist is generally done for children in second grade. However, parents can choose to have their child celebrate First Reconciliation in second grade and wait until third grade for First Eucharist. Per diocesan guidelines, children planning to celebrate these sacraments must be enrolled in both the sacramental preparation sessions and the faith formation program.

Our First Reconciliation and First Eucharist preparation programs will once again be combined with Immaculate Conception this year. We will be using the God's Gift sacrament textbooks from Loyola Press.

First Reconciliation

First Reconciliation preparation sessions will begin on Monday, October 7. We will celebrate First Reconciliation with Immaculate Conception on Saturday, December 14, at St. Catherine's.

First Reconciliation Schedule

First Eucharist

First Eucharist preparation sessions will begin on Wednesday, February 26. We will celebrate First Eucharist Weekend on April 26 and 27.

Important First Eucharist Information
Candidate Registration Form (fillable PDF)
First Eucharist Schedule
Parents' Guide to First Eucharist

Please contact Rich Rasmussen at [email protected] with any questions.



Middle School Youth Ministry and Confirmation Preparation
Confirmation preparation in the Diocese of Rochester is a two-year process that can officially begin no sooner than 8th grade, with young teens being confirmed no sooner than their 9th grade year. Teens and families may decide to wait until the teen is older, but they cannot officially begin preparing for the sacrament before 8th grade.

With that said, we also welcome 7th graders to come and be part of this program as a way to continue their faith formation (there is no Sunday religious ed. class for 7th grade), share faith with others their own age, and to meet the requirement of being part of a faith formation program for the year prior to preparing for sacraments.

The group meets in Mahler Hall on the same weekends and at the same time as our Sunday morning religious education program, but begins at 10 a.m. and runs until 11:15 a.m.

High School Youth Ministry (Ninth–Twelfth Grades)
This year we will be combining high school teens from St. Catherine's and Immaculate Conception for our youth ministry gatherings. We will meet twice a month for food, fun, prayer, and learning about and discussing tons of topics as they relate to our faith and putting it into practice in the world. We will alternate our meetings each month, with one meeting held at St. Catherine's and the other held at Immaculate Conception. Our meeting time will be on Sundays from 1–2:30 p.m. We will also be scheduling additional opportunities for fun social events and service opportunities.

Please note: Although our Confirmation preparation sessions are geared toward those 9th graders preparing for Confirmation, 9th graders are also encouraged to take part in our High School Youth Ministry program.

To register for any of these faith formation programs, please click here.

Rich Rasmussen is available to answer any questions you might have at [email protected] or 607-257-2493.