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The Family Religious Education program is designed for those parish families whose personal schedules conflict with our regularly scheduled Religious Education opportunities. Family Religious Education is a home study religious education program in which parents and children spend 1 hour each week exploring themes of our faith. While this year’s program is considered a pilot program, it is hoped that the Family Religious Education Program will become yet another opportunity for the parish to support parents as they strive to HAND ON THE FAITH.
Families in the FRE program home school their children’s weekly religious education session and also gather monthly for a presentation on one of the pillars of our Catholic doctrine and traditions. All families in the FRE program should have received their materials for the year and the program home guide.
December 2011
Parent Update for December 1, 2011 in Adobe Reader (pdf - 998 KB)
Parent Update for December 18, 2011 in Adobe Reader (pdf - 184 KB)
DECEMBER 18, 2011 GATHERING UPDATE
Many thanks to the families who were able to attend this month’s gathering, as I stated at the beginning of this year, this is a pilot program and your input it vital to its continuation into the future here at St Giles Parish.
After our opening Advent prayer, there was a very brief presentation of a few of the many different traditions our Catholic Church offers for the celebration of the season of Advent.
Advent is a preparation season in the liturgical year that provides us an opportunity to get ready for an encounter if you will. Advent calls us to look inside to see if we are ready to RECEIVE THE GIFT OF OUR SAVIOR! Of the many ethnic traditions that comprise our universal Catholic Church, you will find just as many traditions in celebrating the season of Advent:
- Advent wreaths
- Christmas trees
- Christmas carols
- Jesse Trees
- O, Antiphons
- Advent Calendars/Chains
- Las Posadas
- Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
All of these traditions are ways of MARKING time in anticipation for the Celebration of the Incarnation of our God. Materials were set out for the students to explore and to assist in the completion of their Advent Survey.
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While the students worked on their Advent Survey, parents gathered to discuss their experience of "FAMILY RELIGIOUS ED”, offer their insights, and their suggestions, of where this program should head after the Christmas break. Some of the feedback of parents regarding the FRE program included:
- Positive experience for family
- Closer bond between parent & child
- Parents also learning/re-learning their own faith
- More fulfilling than traditional RE program
- Sometimes hard to draw child into lesson
- Time challenge: having a set time each week is beneficial
- Study group with other FRE parents is beneficial
- Make monthly gatherings more interactive for students & parents
- How do we keep our children Catholic?
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We ended with parents joining their child to discover what was uncovered about these various traditions of celebrating the season of Advent.
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OUR NEXT FAMILY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION GATHERING WILL BE: SUNDAY JANUARY 15TH!
THIS IS ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE CELEBRATE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION EVENT THAT WILL BE HELD IN MCDONOUGH HALL ON JANUARY 22ND.
ANY FRE FAMILY THAT WOULD LIKE TO CREATE A DISPLAY OF THE WORK THEY HAVE COMPLETED THIS FIRST SEMESTER IS WELCOME TO JOIN IN OUR JANUARY 22 EVENT, JUST LET MARYELLEN KNOW IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING OR NOT.
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PLEASE CONTACT MARYELLEN WITH INFORMATION ON THE UNITS YOU HAVE COMPLETED. Each child needs to complete a Unit Assessment for each unit you cover at home, and return that assessment to the RE office for your child’s file.
If you need assessments emailed to you, please email me at mecasselman@stgilesparish.org.
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The Religious Education office will be closed Dec. 24-26 and again on Dec. 31-Jan.2. Other than those times the office will be open for ministry business as usual.
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November 2011
Parent Update for November 10, 2011 in Adobe Reader (pdf - 230 KB)
Parent Update for November 1, 2011 in Adobe Reader (pdf - 209 KB)
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