First Holy Communion - HOLY CROSS CHURCH CATFORD

HOLY CROSS CHURCH

2018 / 2019

This year's course is FULLY SUBSCRIBED and we look forward to welcoming applications again next year.

If you need to contact us , please do email us at: fhc@holycross-catford.org.uk

Please note that children should be prepared for their First Holy Communion in the parish where the family regularly worships.

Children entering Year 3 of primary school will be eligible to receive Holy Communion for the first time next summer. It is the duty, and privilege, of parents to prepare their child for this important step, with the support of the Parish. To this end, there are regular sessions for the children together with their parents/carers, each month. In order to undertake this programme, it is important that you are prepared to make the following commitments:

You must attend the information meeting on Monday, 24th September at 7.30pm, bringing:

1) a copy of your child’s Baptism certificate,

2)payment of £25 (or part payment £12.50)*

* If this payment will cause you difficulty, please speak in confidence to Fr Doug

To attend all of the sessions together with your child

Please understand that missing sessions with no good reason will mean deferring your child’s First Holy Communion until next year.

To attend Mass weekly, as a family.
To spend time regularly with your child, continuing on from the group sessions and working on the book at home.

The Programme

The programme that we follow here at Holy Cross is called ‘I Belong’ and it follows the structure of the Mass, from when we bless ourselves as we enter the church, until we are sent forth at the end of the Mass ‘…to love and to serve the Lord’.

Our first session, in September, looks back at our Baptism, which made us all members of the same family—that of the Church throughout the world.

From then until December we prepare for the children’s First Reconciliation, which takes place during Advent.

In January we begin by looking at the different parts which make up the Mass and why it is so important for us to gather as a congregation each week to share in the Eucharist.

There are four more sessions before First Communion at the end of May.

In June we gather for a final time to reflect on the fact that we have reached an important stage together, but it is not the end of the journey, and we are all sent out to show by our lives that we are true Christians.

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The children work, with their parents, in small groups with their own catechists. Over the course of the year each group will have their turn to prepare and read the Prayers of the Faithful (the Bidding Prayers) during Mass. This usually happens during the 10.00 am Mass on Sunday, please ensure that your child is there when it is their turn.

Please note that it is not possible to offer child care facilities during the First Communion sessions. Parents will need to make alternative arrangements for any younger children.

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First Communion dates 2018-2019

Closing date for applications: Monday 17^th September

Monday 24^th September 7.30 pm :Introductory evening for parents

Saturday 29th September: In the Name of the Father

Looking back at our Baptism, the reason why we are here.

Up until Christmas, we concentrate on preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Saturday 13th October :Lord, have Mercy