St. Mary's Parish
St. Mary Religious Education Program 2022-2023
This year we will be using the Sofia Press Religious Education Program.
Dear Religious Education Families,
Our Religious Education program will be using Sophia Press’ A Family of Faith. The most visible change this will bring concerns scheduling – rather than a weekly classroom session, A Family of Faith operates on a monthly schedule.
An average month looks something like: Week One, a catechist teaches that month’s curriculum to parents; Week Two, the parents teach it to their family via age-appropriate activities and lessons; Week Three, coming together for Mass; and Week Four having options for extracurricular community engagement.
A few significant concerns are speeding this process along, chief among them being: (1) a desire to center our parish life and religious education on the Sunday Mass, (2) a desire to root religious education in the family, (3) an honest admission of my own limitations, and (4) the simple fact that I’ve seen programs like this work.
To that end, I will be offering our second State-of-the-Union address after the Masses on August 20-21. At that session I’ll try to answer some of the questions you’ve got, such as “Why are you dropping a Whopper on us so soon into your tenure?” “What does this mean about First Communion/Confirmation?” etc. In the meantime, feel free to directly ask me any questions you have, too. We’re entrusting this process to the Holy Spirit.
I will also be holding a parent meeting following the September 4th, 8:00 AM Mass. All parents should attend, if you are unable to make that date, the alternate meeting date (as a second option) is September 11th following the 8:00 AM Mass. I look forward to meeting and working with you all.
God Bless, Fr. Joe Richards
Once you have completed the form, please return to
St. Mary's Parish.
If you have questions, feel free to contact Fr. Joe Richards at fatherjoerichards@gmail.com or
the parish office at stmaryscv@mwt.net.
Encountering Christ at the center
of the parish’s work in catechesis
where adults, youth, and children
learn the Catholic faith and
express it as Christian disciples