General Sacrament Information

First Reconciliation & First Communion

Program Requirements:

• The child has to attend the program for at least two consecutive years, beginning in first grade at the earliest.

• The child must have good weekly attendance.

• The child must be at least in second grade when celebrating the sacraments.

• Girls will wear a white dress at the First Communion.

• Boys will wear a white shirt with dark slacks at the First Communion

• Parents must attend all mandatory preparatory meetings.

• Children must attend all mandatory rehearsals.

• Additional information and requirements will be provided at the Parents’ Meeting for First Communion.

"The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life.' The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."

--Catechism of the Catholic Church, 132

Confirmation

Program Requirements:

• The child has to attend the program for at least two consecutive years, beginning in tenth grade at the earliest.

• Sacred Heart School graduates may enroll in 2^nd year Confirmation preparation in ninth grade.

• The child must have good weekly attendance. (

• The child must be at least in eleventh grade when celebrating the sacrament. (9^th grade for Sacred Heart School graduates)

• Candidates and parents must attend all mandatory preparatory meetings

• Candidates must attend mandatory retreats, activities, and rehearsals.

• Candidates must complete 30 service hours in their Confirmation year.

  • 10 hours of Corporal Works of Mercy

  • 10 hours of Spiritual Works of Mercy

  • 10 hours of Ministry Service

• Additional information will be provided at the Parent-Candidate Meeting for Confirmation.

"... [B]y the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."

--Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1285

Baptisms

CHILDREN IN GRADES 2 and UP

• The child has to attend the program for at least two consecutive years with good weekly attendance.

• They will celebrate the sacraments of Baptism in the first year and the sacraments of Reconciliation/First Communion in the second year.

• The child will enter into an introductory Religious Education class for the first year of faith formation.

• If the child is ready, the child will celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism at the Easter Vigil

• First Communion will be celebrated at the designated date of the ceremony with our 2^nd graders in their second year of faith formation.

• In their third year they will then be placed into continuing faith-formation classes at his/her specific grade level.

"Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: 'Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.'"

--Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1213