Religious Education

Religious Education Handbook 10-11

Dear St. Frances Cabrini Families,

We are all traveling together on our faith journey.  This journey began for most of us as children with the sacrament of baptism.  Faith formation is a lifetime of experiences and information; sacraments and spiritual enlightenment, rich ways to draw us deeper into the love of our Father.  For your children, the 2008-2009 faith formation season is an important time of grace as they grow in their lives with Christ.

We are blessed at St. Frances Cabrini Parish with a religious education program for our children and youth that is flourishing with dedicated catechists, staff, and parents who support the faith educational needs of their children.  Never be afraid to claim your spiritual inheritance as a Catholic parent or guardian by being the best and first teacher of your children in the ways of the faith.  Make this the season in which your whole family actively engages in spiritual growth through:

  • Faithfulness to Sunday Mass
  • Frequent and sincere participation in reconciliation
  • Daily family prayer and faith sharing

May God bless each and every one of you this year during your journey in faith and may the Holy Spirit shine upon you as you as you grow spiritually stronger day by day.

Father Richard Jankowski

The Mission of Religious Education

Upon saying His final farewell to His apostles, Jesus gave His new church the task to evangelize, that is, to bring the message of the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1,8).  The bishops of the United States have pointed out that the first goal of evangelization is to “bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others” (Go and Make Disciples).  The mission of evangelization calls Catholic children “to be formed into disciples through the family’s faith life and religious education.”  The family, then is the first forum in which the mission of evangelization takes place.  Hence, parents are recognized as having the primary responsibility for training their children in the practice of the faith (Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World).

Parish Religious Education programs assist in this sacred duty by providing opportunities for parents and children to develop their prayer lives and their formal understanding of the faith.

The gift of faith, which begins at Baptism, must be nourished throughout the entire life of each Christian.  The family is rightfully called the “domestic church,” and as such, is the foundation of the wider church community.  Religious education within the Diocese of St. Petersburg serves the domestic church by offering the guidance and instruction whereby each individual can come to their full potential as members of the People of God.  Sincere cooperation between the parish and its member families will bring about the goal of evangelizing youth and children, namely, that they grow in understanding and accepting Catholic Doctrine, in their active participation in and awareness of Catholic Liturgical and Sacramental life, their embracing of the fundamental principles of Catholic Morality and the life of Catholic Prayer (Catechism of the Catholic Church).