Once a child who has been baptised, and enters Year 3 in school, we begin to take applications for them to enrol in our communion programme. The programme starts with a parent meeting where the programme is presented and explained and dates are discussed. The children will then be given their own communion book which they are encouraged to complete at home with their parents. The celebration of their First Confession will take place in the month of March followed by their First Communion in May/June. For more up to date information on the programme, please follow the Quex Newsletter. There will be classes for the child and the parents as well as attending a monthly Mass at Quex Road
When your child celebrates their First Holy Communion, it is a very special moment for them as they join us at the altar to be fed on the Body and Blood of Christ. It is also an important occasion for you, their parents, as you continue to form them in the Christian way of life by your own example, and now in a special way to prepare them for this Sacrament of Initiation into the life of the Church. You remember that you undertook to be the first teachers of your child in the ways of the faith when you requested to have them Baptised. That responsibility continues now, as you help them to prepare for their First Holy Communion.
Your child is prepared for First Holy Communion through the efforts of different groups of people: your family, the catechists in the parish, the school and the parish community as a whole. The members of these groups in the faith community, each with special experience of what the Eucharist means in his or her own life, all come together to pass on their faith and the Church’s tradition on the Eucharist to our children.
All children being prepared to receive the Sacrament will participate in the celebration Masses which are part of the programme.
There will be four meetings with parents during the course of the programme. In order for you to properly support your children, it is important that you know and understand what the children are learning. At these sessions you will be given ideas on how to carry on with the children’s preparation at home.
The programme also prepares each child to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is God’s gift of forgiveness to them – this sacrament reminds us of God’s unending love for each one of us.
Each section of the programme focuses on an aspect of the Mass and will culminate in a celebration Mass. This will help your child to understand what they have been learning in the programme, bringing them to a good understanding of the Mass.