Mission Statement
We as Religious Education/Faith Formation staff are committed to assist parents in the faith formation of their children and youth by providing resources and support. We do this by offering the opportunity for religious instruction, worship, prayer and service.
Religious Education
Parents have the right and the duty to transmit this heritage of faith to their children: to help them find their own identity, to initiate them to the life of the Church, to foster the responsible exercise of their moral freedom and their ability to love on the basis of their having been loved and, above all, to enable them to encounter God."
Children experience human growth and maturity to the extent that they trustingly accept this heritage and training which they gradually make their own. They are thus enabled to make a personal synthesis between what has been passed on and what is new, a synthesis that every individual and generation is called to make.
Sharing our Faith together-Our Partnership with Parents
Family and church based faith formation together constitute a vital partnership in the nurturing of the faith of children and youth. We believe parents are the first and foremost Catechists (teachers) of their children.
The St. Francis Xavier Religious Education/Faith Formation programs and process are guided by the following two principles:
1. Faith formation is a lifelong process that includes everyone.
2. Our Catholic faith tradition comes alive when we enter into relationships with others, especially our family, and through actively sharing in the life of the parish community, especially in worship, sacraments, fellowship and
outreach to the greater community.
3. In order to have a living faith, every individual needs a basic knowledge and understanding of the teachings of the Church.
