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Dear Families,
EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 2022
OUR PREP PROGRAM HAS CHANGED.1) Confirmation will take place after 6th grade.
2) Service hours will be reduced or even eliminated. (More to come)
3) Usual class times and days remain in effect.
4) Upon completion of the 6th grade, a 6-week crash course will be required for all Confirmation candidates beginning the first week of September. This class can be written off if the student attends Camp Veritas in August.
5) Confirmation will be in mid/late October.
6) For this year only: All those students who have completed the PREP 6th and 7th grades will be eligible for Confirmation in October 2022.
7) Free tuition for the upcoming year with the possibility of free education permanently or reduced significantly. (Keep in mind there are bills to pay for Fr. Moriarty Hall – propane for heat, electricity, salary for the religious education director. But if I can reach a point where families don’t have to pay anything, I will do that)Mass Is Class…Class Is Mass
Here’s the catch. I take two years off the religious education requirement. You give me Sunday Mass every Sunday, every grade year.
1) Each student will be given a set of numbered cards (the amount is being worked out but expect a minimum of 52. Christmas and Easter are mandatory, no excuses.)
2) The cards will be handed to the pastor or his delegate after Mass. The student and no one else must hand these in. They cannot be put in a collection box, on a table, or given to an usher.
3) They will be given eight weeks free each year. Be wise about how you miss a Mass. If a student misses more than 8 Masses, they will have to repeat the year. Class is now Mass, and Mass is now class. That's the new attendance schedule.
4) Mass attendance begins September 1 and ends August 31 of the following year.
5) Parent(s) or adult family member must accompany the student to Sunday Mass. (Why would any parent leave a child by themselves at Mass is beyond me. If I can get the whole family at Mass, that would be beautiful. But student(s) accompanied by an adult will suffice. )
Two years less of cold winter nights driving to PREP. Two years less of being dead tired and trudging your child off to PREP at 6 PM. You don't want to. They don't want to, especially 7th and 8th graders who are naturally cranky anyway. I think it's a fair exchange! And a super easy one at that.
You might ask, "Is there another option?" There may be in the future that I will consider. But for now, this is the system we have in place.
I think we have a fair system in the making here. And I also think it will be an excellent one at that.
Prayers,
Fr. Palatucci
Pastor, St. John the Evangelist-St. Charles Borromeo Parish
Returning Student Registration please click here!