The main Faith Formation programs are scheduled on Sundays to facilitate families being able to attend Mass. Mass is the "source and summit" of our Catholic faith and any faith formation is impossible without it. Additionally, on the faith formation survey more families indicated that they preferred once a month programs on Sundays over weekdays.

You can log in to your Church Center account on the web or on the app and update your profile and those in your family’s as well.

All that is required other than the monthly session are the following: PREREQUISITES: - Registered with the Parish - Actively participating in the life of the Parish EVENTS: - First Penance Service - Communion Retreat - Participating in Accompany Nights - Parent participation in 2 parent meetings during the year - First Communion Ceremony Rehearsal

If your child is in grades 3-5 and needs 1st Communion, please contact ff@stteresaavila.org to be registered for First Communion Preparation and discuss the options for age appropriate preparation.

If you cannot attend all the sessions in your selected group, please email ff@stteresaavila.org as soon as possible to discuss alternative options.

Confirmation preparation will be a one year, interactive program open to those at least entering the 9th grade, where candidates will prepare during the winter of their freshmen year and be confirmed in the Fall of the 10th grade year [late September]. Families seeking Confirmation for their teens are asked to be registered parishioners and active in the life of the Parish, as Confirmation means a full initiation into the active life within the Church.

Being confirmed is a gift and an important step on the faith journey, one which we want to support and ensure that students have discerned and are ready to make. Allowing middle-schoolers to complete the middle school Faith Formation program first allows them to be invested in as middle-schoolers and finish forming a foundation during their middle school years before entering a more formal sacramental preparation process. The benefits of sacramental preparation in high school is that high-schoolers tend to have a higher capacity to grasp the meaning of the sacrament and its responsibilities. It is the natural season of maturing when they are preparing for adulthood in general. In this way, the Church can better accompany them during this life transition, helping them see both joys and challenges through the lens of an important sacrament that strengthens them. 9th grade and Confirmation correlate in that they are both times of beginning anew, as Confirmation is not "graduation" from the lived experience of faith. Additionally, on the faith formation survey, more families indicated that they preferred a one year program in the 9th grade.

If your child has special needs and you believe that they will need more individualized attention, we do have other opportunities available and would be glad to work to accompany your family's faith formation journey. Please contact ff@stteresaavila.org for more information.