Greetings to you,

For so many of you who have received formal religious education in the classroom growing up you might have heard it called CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) Most of us may not even know what those 3 letters meant at the time, but it meant you were gonna sit in a classroom for an hour and learn from a volunteer you didn't really know, about the Faith. For me this happened on a Sunday morning. I have memories of those days, but I'll be honest with you, not sure I could tell you what I learned, but for sure I must have, as here I am pastoring a flock in Gulf Breeze. 

Catechesis down through the centuries of the Church has changed to meet the demands of each generation. Currently, the Church, diocesan wide, is seeing a challenge in attendance with every grade of Religious Ed (as it's called today). As of this year, our bishop has decided to approach this decline with a revival of the Restored Order of the Sacraments of Initiation. This means, Confirmation will return to the early church practice of receiving it before 1st Communion at 7 years of age. 

This is a chance for your children/grandchildren to receive the grace of Confirmation at an earlier age. I spoke to this in my last flock note. Bishop Wack has asked all the parishes of the diocese to implement an initiative intimately tied to this called Family Catechesis. This is a call to include parents within the formation of their children.

We will begin this on the 1st Wednesday's of every month. We've nicknamed it 30/30/30. We start with Mass(30 min), then move to a FREE dinner(30 min) then onto a 30 minute catechetical session. Chidren will be separated from their parents for the catechetical period. 

Here's a link to our website to go and register now for Confirmation. We'll have free child care for this too. Our hope is that you as parents will join your child as they venture to Confirmation. Registering for Confirmation is at the same time a registration for Family Catechesis. It's an integrated program. If you're not in the Confirmation Program a separate registration form will be forth coming. 

Here are a couple links to help you understand more about Restored Order and  Family Catechesis.

Blessings to you!

Fr. John