Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Videographer at the 2 PM first Communion Masses

I heard from the videographer today that he wants a minimum order of 10 DVDs of each group First Communion Mass $33 each or else he will not record the Mass. Since he did not submit any order forms to us to distribute, I must ask your help in letting me know if you would like to order a video of your child's First Communion Mass. Please complete the survey HERE so I can let him know how many orders he can expect. Please contact me at agiglio@sjanj.net with any questions you may have.

You can also click this sentence to go to the survey. 

Friday, February 7, 2014

CCD First Reconciliation Tomorrow

The CCD Students will make their first confessions on Saturday, February 8. The Monday and Wednesday students will participate in the 11 AM service and the Tuesday students will participate in the 2 PM service. All students and their parents should arrive 15 minutes before the penance service begins and take their seats in the church. Each service lasts about an hour. See you on Saturday!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Updates from Parent Meeting

We'd like to thank those of you who attended yesterday's first Communion Parent Meeting for your patience as we tried to resolve our technical difficulties.  The videos we tried to show are below in this post. Unfortunately, Blogger would not allow us to embed the Fr. Barron videos. Please click on the links and watch them. They are very interesting and nourish your faith better than watching cats play the piano can (although cats playing piano are still very funny).

A copy of the updated calendar can be found on the sidebar.  A hard copy will go home with the children next week.  

Amy forgot to mention that the CCD children should continue to practice the song "Come to Jesus" (video after the Fr. Barron talks) for their First Reconciliation on February 8. All of the children will be learning a new song for First Communion Masses at 2 PM.  It's called "Perfect Love" and you can listen to it at this link (no video
available): http://bit.ly/1eC0nWP

As always, please let call if you have any questions about anything at all.

Fr. Barron on the Eucharist as a Meal: 

Fr. Barron on the Eucharist as a Sacrifice: 

Fr. Barron on the Eucharist as the Real Presence of Jesus Christ: 


Come to Jesus: 


And, a cat playing piano:

Thursday, January 9, 2014

First Communion Parent Meetings next week

Just a friendly reminder that the First Communion parent meetings are next week: Tuesday at 3:45 PM, Wednesday at 7:00 PM, and Thursday at 2:30 PM. We will have Confirmation candidates babysitting again in the Teacher's Lounge for anyone who wants to leave their children there. 

These meetings are important and required for anyone whose child is making their First Communion this spring. See you then!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

CCD First Reconciliation Services Rescheduled

The First Reconciliation services originally scheduled for Dec. 14 will take place on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at 11 AM or 2 PM.  Children will keep their originally scheduled times. Please call Amy Giglio with any questions.

Please practice the song "Come to Jesus" with the children. See the post below for the video for the song.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Penance services postponed

The penance services for First Reconciliation on December 14 have been cancelled.  The children's reception of the sacrament will be rescheduled for some time after the Christmas season. Thank you for your patience.  We'll have more details late Monday or Tuesday.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Notes from First Reconciliation practices

We've been having great practices with the 2nd graders this week.  They are doing a great job, but there are a few things that the children need to work on.

First: all of the kids need to practice how to go to Confession.  Preparation is KEY to your child's First Reconciliation Saturday being stress-free. Here it is, in a nutshell:


When I go into the Confessional, I can choose to sit in front of Father or to kneel behind the screen. I make sure to close the door behind me.  I make the Sign of the Cross while I say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. This is my first confession.” The next time I go to confession, I will tell Father how long it has been since my last confession.
  I tell Father my sins and the number of times I committed each sin. Then I say, “For these and all of my sins, I am sorry.”  I listen to what Father tells me, listening for the penance I have to do.
 I pray an Act of Contrition.
  Father will extend his hand to bless me. He says the words of Absolution and when he says “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” I make the Sign of the Cross and say, “Amen.”  I thank Father, and leave the Confessional to say my penance prayers.
You can print these instructions out from a pdf here.  One activity that is good to do with the kids is to print out the sheet, then review it once or twice together, then, cut the sentences into strips, turn them upside-down, mix them up, then try to put them back together in order.  You can leave it like that as a puzzle, or you can glue them onto construction paper to make a little guide that your child can decorate and personalize.

Second: some of the kids are not sure what they should confess.  The National Catholic Register (weekly newspaper) has a nice examination of conscience here.

Finally: the children have been working on the opening song for the penance service in their classes, but again, preparation is very important.  Some of our friends really need to work on this.  Here is the video for your convenience.  The kids in the video are doing hand motions; our children are not doing those hand motions.





Your child's First Reconciliation day is going to be beautiful. It's a wonderful day for them to receive God's grace healing their souls. It's a great opportunity for us, their parents, to model life in the Church by going to confession ourselves. Please let your child's faith and courage inspire you to seek healing for your soul as well.