St. Jude Parish in Hawkesbury recently celebrated a joyous Enrolment Mass for their 1st Reconciliation & 1st Eucharist students. It was a special occasion marked by the smiles of proud families as they gathered together at a Sunday Mass to begin this important step of their sacramental journey. A heartfelt thank you to Julia and Fr. Ikedi for sharing this wonderful moment with us. 😊
Greetings!
Welcome to this edition of our Path to Grace newsletter, where we continue our mission to nurture and strengthen the bonds between our parish communities, school communities, and families through sacramental preparation.
This month, we’ll spotlight a few ideas to assist with hosting a retreat. We will also include some Lenten resources for children and families.
Don’t forget to check the link to the parish portal for our Catholic school’s “Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ” religion program. This is such a great resource and easily supports sacramental programs in the parish.
I welcome your suggestions, experiences, or ideas to assist with sacramental preparation! If you have something you’d like to share, please let me know—I’d love to feature it in our upcoming issues!
Got questions about sacramental prep or need a little help? Reach out to me directly — I’m just a message away! victoria.pusiak@ottawacornwall.ca
Wishing you a Blessed and Holy Lenten journey!
Blessings, Victoria
Retreat Note
Planning a half-day or full day retreat for children and parents to prepare for the Sacraments is a fruitful way for families to deepen their faith and understand the beauty and graces that flow from the sacraments. Retreats give opportunity to pause and reflect more fully on our relationship with God and perhaps to listen more attentively to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The retreat should also be a time for families to deepen their understanding of the faith life through prayer time, share time and related activities. Involving both the children and parents in some of the activities and discussions creates a memorable experience that will help parents understand the joys and impact of being a first witness of the faith.
Having the support and presence from the educators, teachers or principals from the school adds greatly to the experience for families. Plus, the educators are very knowledgeable, resourceful and may be able to share some important practical ideas for the planning and the flow of the retreat.
There are many retreat resources available and many of you already have retreat plans in place and because of that I have not included specific retreats in this newsletter. But should you need any help planning a retreat simply reach out, I am happy to lend a hand!
- Share retreat date and times with families and schools well in advance.
- It is ideal to have the retreat take place at the parish. Ensure facilities are available or specific places are reserved for the allocated times you will need them
- Have a retreat theme that is easy to understand and work with.
- If possible, share in advance any special information or videos with the school and families to help them arrive with the retreat theme in mind.
- Ensure there is a backup plan for families who are unable to attend. Perhaps a booklet of the handouts shared at the retreat along with a selection of videos for the family to watch with a few discussion questions. Not all will be able to attend and showing flexibility and understanding will go a long way towards building relationships.
- If you are expecting a large group of children and parents, divide them into manageable groups ahead of time. Be creative!
- Include a fun icebreaker game at the beginning, of the retreat. Click this link to a website that has a number of icebreaker games Grow Account. Thank you Alex from Holy Spirit Parish! These simple icebreakers allow participants bit of fun while meeting others and will help them to feel more comfortable throughout the day.
- Include time for discussion and sharing in small groups and with the larger group.
- Short breaks are always good if it is a 1/2 day retreat, it allows for an important social component.
- Offer a portion of the retreat session where parents can enjoy some quiet time for prayer and personal reflection, while the children enjoy another activity.
- Knowing the sacred space is important. Perhaps dedicate some time for families in the main body of the church. It could be for a short explanation about adoration with 10 mins of adoration! Or perhaps a church tour with a “behind the scenes look” at the sacred space.
- There are many online videos and power point resources if a physical tour is not possible. Or perhaps have the families review the video prior to the retreat, generating knowledge of the space beforehand. Here are a few online resources:
- If families and students are at the parish for a retreat, this is a wonderful chance to physically review the sacrament, walk through the actions, share and describe what can be expected at the time of 1st reconciliation, 1st Eucharist or Confirmation. Share the practical points that families need to know. IE: What time should they arrive? What is the expected or traditional attire? Try to address any unknowns and allow them the chance to ask necessary questions. Provide a take home sheet or a link to info is always helpful 😊
- As the day wraps up, consider sending the participants home with a reminder of the day. It could be a craft from an activity station, a booklet to help continue with the reflection journey, or a small gift from the parish, whatever it is, hopefully it will be something that when they see it, will open their heart to recall the retreat theme and their personal relationship with God.
- If a retreat is held during the school day at the parish, communicate with the teachers, share the outline for the day and coordinate bus schedules, lunch times and styles (pizza or brown bag), any specific tasks or roles for the teachers. Be aware of any special considerations for students.
- If the retreat is held during a school day, plan for the practice for the sacrament to be at another time so that parents or sponsors can attend 😊
Lenten resources for Children & Families
There are several amazing resources available to support children and families as they journey through lent! Below are a few options for family resources, please check out the links below.
PRINTED HANDOUTS
Children’s Lenten Calendar (Click here) Lenten Children’s Calendars 50/14.95
Family Lenten Journey booklet booklet (Click here) for families $2.95 each
The Sadlier Religion website has many Free downloadable Lenten activities, they do ask for your email address in order to download any items. Here is the link to their website.
Lent Resources | Sadlier Religion (Click here)
Here is a downloadable prayer chain activity for families or classrooms! Each day a preprinted strip of paper is selected, the family or class can reflect on the scripture passage or prayer intention. Once completed they are rolled and fastened to the previous day’s intention creating a long prayer chain! Here is the downloadable link to this resource.
Our NEXT Edition of Path to Grace will include:
- A confirmation Mass outline
- Information about the Confirmation forms to be submitted to the Chancery office.
- toolbox tips for a faith filled Confirmation Mass.
The Ottawa Catholic school board religion program GIFGIC is both vibrant and engaging for students. It is easy to use and a special link for parish use of the resources is available for parishes! The program provides access to videos, songs, games, stories and more. These are available by grade and are so amazing! Simply click here and enter the user name and password to have access to these valuable resources.
USERNAME: OCSB_parish
PASSWORD: RELIGION1
Jubilee Resources for Children
Here’s a link to a super 4 page jubilee year workbook for children created by Sadlier Religion; it is fun and downloadable! Sadlier is an excellent resource, check out their website for additional ideas and info!
REL_DL_Jubilee2025_MiniMagazine.pdf
The CCCB has online resources for children age 6 – 11 available for reflection and engagement for the jubilee year! Older material for teens is coming! Here is the link Catechetical Activities for Children and Youth – Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
