First Communion and Reconciliation
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Children in Grade Two or above are potential candidates for the reception of the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist.
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A Parent Information Session is set for the first Thursday in the schedule at the Shrine Church. This meeting will further explain the Sacrament Preparation Program and how you can continue to support your child's faith development.
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Additionally, there are four sessions and a retreat to prepare for the First Reconciliation as well as four sessions and a retreat to prepare for First Eucharist. The sessions are set up for children along with concurrent sessions for parents at the same time. Each session runs for 60 minutes.
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There is a fee of $25 for each Sacrament Preparation Program totaling $50 to help offset the cost of the materials. Your child will receive two books, Celebrate and Remember Reconciliation and Celebrate and Remember Eucharist.
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The sessions are set for the following dates:
First Reconciliation | First Communion | Session |
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Thursday, TBA | TBA | Information Evening 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Thursday, TBA | Thursday, TBA | 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Thursday, TBA | Thursday, TBA | 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Thursday, TBA | Thursday, TBA | 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Saturday, TBA | Retreat 10:30am - Noon | |
Sunday, TBA | Celebrations 2 - 3:30 pm | |
Sunday, Jun 2, 2024 | 1st Communion Mass TBD |
The Sacrament of Penance is the first of two sacraments of healing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also calls it the sacrament of conversion, Penance, confession, forgiveness and Reconciliation. It is the sacrament of spiritual healing of a baptized person from the distancing from God resulting from sins committed.
The sacrament involves four elements:
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Contrition (the penitent's sincere remorse for wrongdoing or sin, repentance, without which the rite has no effect);
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Confession to a priest who has the faculty to hear confessions – while it may be spiritually helpful to confess to another, only a priest has the power to administer the sacrament;
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Absolution by the priest; and,
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Satisfaction or penance.
The Eucharist, also called the Blessed Sacrament, is the sacrament (the third of Christian initiation, the one that the Catechism of the Catholic Church says "completes Christian initiation") by which Catholics partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and participate in his one sacrifice. The first of these two aspects of the sacrament is also called Holy Communion. The bread (which must be wheaten, and which is unleavened) and wine (which must be from grapes) used in the Eucharistic rite are, in Catholic faith, transformed in their inner reality, though not in appearance, into the Body and Blood of Christ, a change that is called transubstantiation.