Faith Formation
What do Catholics believe?
We believe in God who is our loving Father and creator. God’s love is limitless and overflows into our hearts and lives. God has created us out of His love that sustains and supports us daily.
We believe that God sent us his own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and rose from the dead, to save us and offer us the gift of eternal life.
We believe in the Holy Spirit who is powerfully present in the church today. The Spirit, given to the church at Pentecost, enables the Lord to continue to be present with us today and to continue his saving mission.
The Spirit imparts wisdom and knowledge to us and gives us various spiritual gifts, which we are called to recognize, share, and develop to grow in our relationship with God through the help of the same Spirit.
We work for peace and justice in our world.
We worship and praise God by living a sacramental life.
We recognize the need for forgiveness, since our sin harms the community in some way, and see the sacrament of Reconciliation as a means to receive this great gift and heal our relationships with God, ourselves, and others.
People are Catholic for various reasons. However, there is a common thread that binds all of us together. We belong to a Christ-founded and Christ-centered faith community. We believe Jesus’ truth, share his vision and model our lives after his example of love. We are called to care for one another and to use our unique gifts and talents for the good of the community and the world. Below is a listing of some of our fundamental beliefs and values:
We encounter the real presence – the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ – in the Eucharist and are nourished and fed by the Eucharist on Sundays, the Day of the Lord. The Eucharist binds us with God and with each other, making us the body of Christ in the world.
We recognize the importance of prayer, which strengthens and defines our relationship with God, and take time to develop an active prayer life. Without prayer we lose touch with our loving God and isolate ourselves from Him who desires intimacy with us.
We are willing to preach gospel values in a world whose values are often contrary to the message of Jesus.
We are committed to the protection of all of human life, from the moment of conception until natural death.
We believe that we are stewards of creation and not just its consumers. We believe that the earth and its resources are created and given to us by God and that every human being has an obligation to protect them.
Questions?
Jim Knowles
303-742-2351
CHILDRENS’ FAITH FORMATION (PRE K-8)
Faith Formation for Children Pre K – 8
Faith formation classes and the reception of first sacraments.
Is faith formation really that important? In a one-word answer, yes. Forming our children in the Catholic faith is essential to the foundation of their lives. As parents, we have cooperated with God to bring life into the world. However, our responsibility does not stop there. Since God creates children in his own image and likeness and them entrusts them to their parents, God gives to the parents the awesome responsibility of raising them to become the image of his own Son, Jesus. This is a responsibility that cannot be delegated away – to grandparents, the parish, or others. And it is the first responsibility of parents, more important than any other education, training, or formation, more important than sports, trade or vocational training, the arts, even school itself.
The Catholic Church is very clear about the responsibility of parents.
“Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery – the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the ‘material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.’ Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2223).
Faith formation program at Notre Dame Parish.
The faith formation program at Notre Dame supplements and reinforces the formation already being done in the home.
Our classes meet on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30-5:45 p.m. from September through May.
Our classes are taught by our certified catechists, whose ministry it is to help parents and guardians form their children in the faith. They work hard to ensure that the children of Notre Dame are receiving the very best formation possible. Each of our volunteers has been through the Archdiocese of Denver’s Safe Environment training program. Parents and guardians are invited to attend classes with their children.
Registration is open to parishioners of Notre Dame, that is, persons who live within the boundaries of the parish which the Archbishop of Denver established, as well as those persons who verifiably associate themselves with Notre Dame Parish by attending Mass weekly at Notre Dame, living the parish’s spirituality of stewardship, and participating actively in the life of the parish through the stewardship of their time, talent, and treasure.
Faith Formation Programs for the First Sacraments.
The faith formation program also includes formation for those in the 3rd grade and up, to receive the sacraments of First Reconciliation, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion. Parents and children together study the sacrament and so prepare the children at home to receive them. When a child is ready to receive his or her sacraments, one of the catechists or the director of faith formation will interview the child (not priests or deacons). For more information on this program, please check the Sacramental Preparation.
Preparing for Your Child’s First Sacraments
What is necessary for a child to receive the first sacraments?
The sacramental preparation program at Notre Dame Parish is designed to help children receive the preparation they need in order to properly and reverently receive the sacraments of First Reconciliation, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion. Several years ago, the Archbishop of Denver “restored the order” of the sacraments of initiation and of Reconciliation. This dropped the age of confirmation from high school to 3rd grade and raised the age of First Communion from 2nd grade to 3rd. (For more information from the Archdiocese of Denver) Now, all children in 3rd grade or above are invited to be prepared for these sacraments.
While some emphasis on these sacraments will be given in the third grade, it is not possible to adequately prepare children to receive these sacraments in limited classroom settings. Therefore, in addition to their participation in the faith formation program, all parents of children in grades 3-12 who desire that their children receive these sacraments will prepare them at home to do so. Materials, workbooks, and assistance will be provided to parents. The form of this assistance will vary depending on the number of children enrolled in first sacrament preparation.
All children being prepared to receive these sacraments will demonstrate their personal desire to be a friend of Jesus Christ, to receive these sacraments, to practice the faith, and demonstrate that they have learned the fundamentals of that sacrament and its graces to be received. When a child is ready to receive their sacraments, one of the catechists or the director of faith formation will interview the child. The interviewer has the right to recommend to the pastor that a child’s reception of the sacrament be postponed and that further formation and catechesis occur in its regard.
Mass Attendance
There is no Christian life without Sunday Eucharist. And the Sunday Eucharist is the singular and most important formator of children and families in the faith. Nothing that is taught in the faith formation program will be learned if it is not celebrated by the family at the Sunday Eucharist. It is only logical that if a child desires to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation, and First Communion, he/she is present at the Eucharist on Sundays where the Lord most abundantly pour forth the graces of those sacraments into his disciple’s soul.
The Lord commands that his disciples celebrate the Eucharist every Lord’s Day, which is Sunday. And Notre Dame Parish asks its parishioners to do so at Notre Dame Parish. Catechesis on Wednesdays will include a discussion of the readings, homilies, and celebrations of the Eucharist the preceding Sunday. A family’s faithful participation in weekly Sunday worship may be considered in determining a child’s readiness to receive the sacraments. Children in 5-8 grades are invited to be altar servers. Parents are invited to become greeters, lectors, and/or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
First Sacraments
Adult Formation
The Paradigm of all Faith Formation
The church teaches that “[c]atechesis for adults, since it deals with persons who are capable of an adherence that is fully responsible, must be considered the chief form of catechesis. All the other forms, which are indeed always necessary, are in some way oriented to it” (General Directory for Catechesis, 59). This requires a paradigm shift. A lot of Catholics take a school approach to catechesis. They think they attend classes, receive confirmation, and then they have “graduated” and need nothing else. But formation is an ongoing, life-long task of a Christian disciple. We are never finished. God is infinite. There is always deeper we can go in our relationship with him.
There are opportunities for adult faith formation and catechesis at Notre Dame Parish. These classes include Bible Study and other classes sponsored by the Archdiocese or other ministries in the Archdiocese and are held at Notre. Check out the calendar for more information.
Becoming Catholic
How do I become a Catholic?
At Notre Dame Parish, we strive to welcome and meet people where they are in life, accompany them on their life-faith journey, and share the gospel message with one another. Simply put, we want others to know that a loving God has created us all, that Jesus became one of us in everything but sin so that we could become as God, and that he has placed his Holy Spirit within us so that we can have an intimate friendship with him and one another. We do this above all by loving one another as Jesus has loved us. It is not good news to tell someone, “Jesus loves you.” What is good news is to tell another, “I love you in the name of Jesus.”
Being a disciple of Jesus undergirds all human life and everyday living. “Even for those who remain tied to their Christian roots, but who live the difficult relationship with modernity, it is important to realize that being Christian is not a type of clothing to wear in private or on special occasions, but is something living and all-encompassing, able to contain all that is good in modern life” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council For Promoting The New Evangelization, May 30, 2011).
Becoming a Catholic
Jesus died on the cross that all his followers “may be one” (John 17:21). He invites everyone into the church, and in his name we welcome everyone who comes. The process by which adults come into full membership in the church is known as the “RCIA,” which is short for “The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.” “RCIC,” or “The Rite of Christian Initiation of Children,” is the analogous process for children between the ages of 7 and 12. “RCIT” or “The Rite of Christian Initiation of Teens,” is for teenagers from the ages of 13-18.
For Whom is the Process?
The unbaptized. The primary focus of the RCIA/RCIT/RCIC is on those who are not baptized, not yet Christian, and/or who have not been raised in the Christian faith.
Baptized but unformed Christians. The RCIA/RCIT/RCIC process is also for those who have been baptized Roman Catholic or as members of another Christian community but who were not raised and/or formed in the Christian faith.
Those seeking full communion with Jesus in the Catholic Church. These are baptized, practicing Christians from other denominations who seek full communion with Jesus and the church as a Catholic.
RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation of Children) ages 7-12.
RCIT (Rite of Christian Initiation of Teens) ages 13-18.
RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) 19 and above.
Looking to volunteer with RCIA?
Contact Jim Knowles at 303.742.2351 or jknowles@denvernotredame.org for more information and/or to sign up.
Catechist and catechist’s aide — Catechists and aides witness and teach their faith to others, especially helping in our children’s faith formation program. The most important qualities for a catechist to possess are excitement about the faith and a desire to share it with others. Training provided.
Sponsors— We also have a need for others to accompany those joining the church on their faith journey by supporting them along the way.