Children & Youth
Religious Education
Our faith formation program provides educational programs for children pre-school through grade 12. Our program includes sacramental preparation for First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, and Confirmation. Weekly sessions are offered on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.
As parents, we have a unique and specific calling to form our children’s faith by word and example. Faith is most of all nurtured in the home, the domestic church, and by parents who are the child’s first catechists and most influential witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
At St. James, we stress the importance of attending Mass together as a family. The ultimate expression of our Catholic faith is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which we celebrate each Sunday. Attending Mass is not only about fulfilling an obligation we may have towards God; while this is important, we are also called to give our very selves in union with the sacrifice of Himself that Christ offers on the altar.
For more information, please contact Allie Enos at vcre@stjameswv.org or 304-725-5558 x231
Registration for the 2020-21 Religious Education classes begins on July 3, 2020. For the first time, we will be doing online registration as well as paper registration. You will also be able to submit your payment online once you complete the form. We will also be mailing the registration form to our registered families. If you prefer to submit a paper registration, you may drop off the form at the Parish Office. The Office is open during the week from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
“We believe:
That God and the child have a unique relationship with one another, particularly before the age of six;
That the growth of this relationship should be assisted by the adult, but is directed by the Spirit of God within the child;
That children need their own place to foster the growth of that relationship;
That the child’s spiritual growth is best served through tangible but indirect means”
Class sessions take place in a prepared environment known as the atrium. Materials in the atrium are closely linked to biblical and liturgical sources. On the shelf a child may find materials that deal with geography that establish Jesus as a real person in a real place. There are also miniature environments that represent historical events and parables from Scripture. There is a model of the altar and all its furnishings, as well as a model of the Baptismal font. Working with these items helps to initiate the child into the liturgical life of the church. “The atrium is a place of work which becomes a conversation with God . . . it is a place for religious life, for community and worship.” Adults in the classroom do not try to fill up the child with knowledge. “They listen with the child and together ask, “God, who are you? How do you love us?”
For more information please contact Allie Enos at vcre@stjameswv.org or call the Parish Office at 304-725-5558.