Sacramental Preparation

Grade School/Jr. High

All students preparing for sacraments must complete two consecutive years of preparation prior to receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion.  At Our Lady of Joy the norm is for students to make their First Confession in second grade and receive Confirmation and First Communion in the third grade.   

High School Teens

Please contact the Faith Formation office for information regarding requirements for sacrament preparation for high school teens.

Public School Students

Cost is the Religious Education registration fee of $75 (cost for multiple student enrollments at a reduced rate) – there is no additional cost for receiving sacraments.

Students should be enrolled beginning in the second grade in order to be eligible to receive the sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion in the third grade.

Students in fourth through eighth grade that are to receive their sacraments should enroll in their appropriate grade level and are also required to complete two consecutive years of preparation.

Enrollment is open during the summer and classes begin in September.  For those who have completed all requirements, First Confession will be made in March. Confirmation and First Communion will be received in the Spring. Specific dates/times will be announced.

Parochial (Catholic) School Students

Registration Fee $40

Sacrament Preparation for Children Guidelines

The sacraments are, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. (CCC 1131)”

We can see how important preparation is for your children as they approach celebration of the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion. The sacraments are encounters with the Living Jesus Christ.

Parents/guardians have to answer to God for how committed they are in passing on the Faith to their children. The faith formation team has to answer for how well we do our part in preparing your children for the reception of the sacraments. The requirements we have for children to receive the sacraments are to fulfill our obligation to your families to provide quality and faithful catechesis. Sacrament preparation requires certain sacrifices which remind us how important the sacraments are, and how building the Kingdom of God requires a mature, sacrificial commitment to the Gospel. The teachers who give so generously of their time and energy to help prepare children for the sacraments make sacrifices of time, activities, and energy; families also have to make certain sacrifices and commitments to ensure that their children have a meaningful experience as they celebrate the sacraments. The following commitments are required for adequate sacrament preparation:

• Weekly Sunday (or Saturday Vigil) Mass participation is expected. Weekly Sunday Mass attendance is THE most important factor in a child’s religious formation in preparation for the sacraments. Sunday Mass attendance is the heart of who we are as Catholics. To teach the children that the sacraments are central to our Catholic identity, and then “skip” Mass for leisure, sports, work, etc., is confusing and unfair to children. It sets them up to fail in their faith. This is so serious that children who do not attend Mass regularly may be delayed in receiving sacraments. Teachers will be asking the children throughout the year about their weekly Mass attendance.
• One parent/legal guardian will be expected to attend a minimum of FIVE of the eight ADULT FAITH FORMATION SESSIONS provided. These sessions will be held during religious education class times for your convenience on certain dates throughout the year. These sessions will be dynamic and informative and will help equip parents as the primary teachers of the faith in their homes.
• Children will be expected to miss no more than THREE Religious Education classes throughout the year. Attendance will be strictly monitored. Punctuality is expected as well.
• Children must be deemed prepared through written assessments that will be given throughout the year.
• Children must attend a minimum of 2 years of religious education classes or, if they have been homeschooled in the past year, be deemed prepared through an interview/assessment with the faith formation director. If the child received instruction at another Catholic Church, a letter from that parish’s faith formation department is required.
• Parochial school students  do not have to attend weekly religious education classes, but are required to participate in sacrament preparation classes which will be held throughout the academic year (about one a month), and parents are expected to come to at least FIVE adult faith formation classes (see above).
• Please remember that the reception of sacraments is NOT “graduation.” Please continue to make religious education a priority all through their school years. No one “graduates” from the school of faith! We will be disciples as long as we’re pilgrims on earth. We don’t want our children at thirty years old to have a third grade understanding of and maturity in their faith!

 For information, contact Loreen Schuck.

Mrs. Loreen Schuck
Administrative Assistant
(480) 346-3046
Loreen Schuck

Mrs. Loreen Schuck
Administrative Assistant

(480) 346-3046