Family Catechism Schedule 2022

SESSIONS

• Introductory meeting at St. Rita’s Centre on Saturday 5^th Feb at 6:00pm. At 7:00 Mass at St. Rita’s Chapel.
• Family Catechesis Sessions led by parents (mothers) at home during the week at the best time for the family.
• Weekly Mass on Saturday evenings at 7:00 pm at St. Rita’s Chapel
• One monthly extra session the first Saturday of the month at 6:00pm before the Mass with the Parish Priest and catechists at St. Rita’s Centre as review of the sessions of the previous month family.

First Family Catechesis (6^th- 12^th Feb)

• I belong 1:
  • Presentation of the book
  • Church – House p. 2  
  • Church – family p. 3
  • Sign of the Cross p. 2
  • NAME: pp.4-5
  • BIBLE (Word of God): AT and NT pp. 4-5
  • The Baptism of Jesus (Lectio Divina and Picture) pp. 6-7
  • Talk with your children about their baptism. P. 10 Family Time
• YouCat: nn.1-12 General introduction or preparation for the theme Revelation-Faith.
  • Faith; the most reasonable thing
  • 1-5
  • 6-9
  • 10-12

Second Family Catechesis (13^th- 19^th Feb)

• I belong 1: The Baptism of Jesus/My baptism
  • Video BAPTISM
• YouCat: nn.1-12 Revelation-Faith.
  • N.12 History of Salvation (God’s Revelation – Bible)
  • N.13 Creed (Church’s Faith – Catechism)
  • nn. 13-16 / Gn 1, 1-2, 4 (The creation of the world)
  • nn. 17-19 / Gn 2, 4-8. 15-25 (The origin of human beings)
  • nn. 20-20 / Gn 3 (The fall)

Third Family Catechesis (20^th- 26^th Feb)

• YouCat: nn.110-121 The Commandments.
  • nn. 110-113
• COMMANDMENTS: The Hug of Love.
  • nn. 114-117
  • nn. 118-121

Fourth Family Catechesis (27^th Feb - 5^th Mar)

• YouCat: nn.138-148 Prayer.
  • Prayer to God: nn. 138-144
  • How can I pray: nn. 145-148
  • Try to have a meeting a week, especially on Sundays. You can select a passage of the Gospels, especially that one of the Sunday Mass, and have a Family “Lectio Divina”.

Fifth Family Catechesis (6^th- 12^th Mar)

• I belong 2: Lord, have mercy. (Penitential act)
  • Everyday life pp. 12-13
  • Bible: OT p. 14 Remember briefly the story of fall that they have already seen in former meetings.
  • Bible: NT pp.15-16 Read the parable of the Prodigal Son and Have a “Family Lectio Divina” prayer using the reading of the Prodigal Son (Lc 15, 11-32) pp. 15-16
  • Let them colour the drawing of page 17
  • Church and everyday life: pp. 18-19
  • Experience of Mercy: God is Merciful p. 18
  • Living the Mercy with others. p. 19
  • Make the activities of “Family Time” page 20
•  YouCat: III. Commandments: (nn. 122-137) 
  • 4th commandment (nn. 122-123) 
  • 5th – 7th commandments (nn. 124-129) 
  • 8th – 10th + Church commandments 
  • (nn. 124-129) Beatitudes; Mercy deeds (nn. 136-137)

Sixth Family Catechesis (13^th- 19^th Mar)

• I belong 3: Celebrating our rescue. (Reconciliation)
  • Being rescued, being saved:
    • Everyday life p. 23 (talking about experiences of rescuing and being rescued)
    • Bible: pp. 25-26 Read and comment both stories of OT and NT. How God rescue us when we pray to Him as Daniel, even more Jesus himself it’s the first who goes out to search us when we are astray from the way of God.
    • The parable of the lost sheep (Draw the picture of page 27)
  • Reconciliation:
    • Sin harms and even destroy our friendship with God and with others. When Jesus rescue and save us forgiving our sins RECONCILE us with himself and with the others.
    • Explain what reconciliation means.
    • The parable of the lost sheep (Draw the picture of page 27)
    • CHURCH Reconciliation… p. 29-31
    • The parable of the lost sheep (Draw the picture of page 27)
• YouCat: I. Creed: (nn. 23-31)
  • 2. Jesus Christ, only Son of God (Trinity) (nn. 23-27)
  • 3. Incarnation and Birth (nn. 28-31)
  • Try to make them understand the kerygma: God is love, God is a Trinity, a family: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God created us to share with us his own life, adopting us by grace as children of God in his Son. When Adam and Eve sinned and lost this grace for them and for us (original sin, lost of Eden), God promised a Saviour, a mediator between the Father and humankind. He fulfilled this by sending his Son among us, who was incarnate from the Virgin Mary by the action of the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus is really true God and true man, the mediator between God the Father and humankind, our Saviour.

Seventh Family Catechesis (20^th- 26^th Mar)

• I belong 4: God helps me get it right. (Reconciliation) 
  • Everyday life pp. 35-36 (telling about experiences of being helped to get it right) Bible: pp. 37-38 Read and comment the story of Zacchaeus. 
  • The story of Zacchaeus (Draw the picture of page 39)
  • Reconciliation… p. 40-42 
    • The importance of true CONTRITION, which implies to want to CONFESS our sins to JESUS in the person of the priest; the true desire of TRY NOT TO SIN AGAIN and the true desire of REPAIR with good deeds the bad we have done.
    •  They can write their own prayer (page 41). 
    • First explanation of the Rite of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (p. 42)
  • You can watch with them the videos: Kids Explain First Reconciliation; How do I go to Confession?;  Practice First Confession.
• YouCat: I. Creed: (pp. 52-57)
  • 3. Birth (pp. 52-54)
    • Look at the drawing of the pages 52-53 and comment it. Then read together the Christmas story page 54.
  • Watch the video Incarnation and Birth of Christ with them.
    • 4. Public life (pp. 55-57)
    • Take a look at the drawing and texts of the different stories of the public life of Christ and talk about them.
    • Watch the video Jesus Public Life with them.

Eighth Family Catechesis (27^th Mar - 2^nd Apr)

•  I belong 5: Glory to God in the Highest The angels announce the Good News to the Shepherds.
  • Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on earth to people of good will.  (I belong 50-52)
    • Jesus, true man, glorifies perfectly God his Father, showing to us the great Love and Mercy of God his Father. Jesus, true God, Son of God, brings to us the true Peace of being reconciled with God, and living in communion with Him and with the Father in the Holy Spirit. We glorify and praise the Lord our Saviour because He has forgiven our sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation bringing Peace to our souls and glory to God.
    • We glorify God praying to Him as Jesus taught us, calling Him Our Father. Our Father Mary glorified God accepting and welcoming to become mother of the Son of God, Jesus. 
  • Hail Mary and Angelus. 
    • She glorified his Son, keeping and meditating in her heart all the deeds and words of Jesus and putting them always into practice in her life. We praise and glorify Jesus with Mary when meditate the mysteries of his life.
  • Rosary

CONFESSIONS (3^rd - 9^th Apr)

Nineth Family Catechesis (10^th - 23^th Apr) Two weeks

• I belong 6: The Word of the Lord 
  • I belong 6 Page 59-60: Read and comment the story of Samuel. and comment with them. We can during the Mass listen to God who speaks to us through the bible readings. We have to have the same attitude of Samuel.
  • Video of Samuel Story
  • I belong 6 Page 63:  CHURCH liturgy of the Word explanation. 
  • I belong 6 Page 61 bottom: the sign of the three crosses.
• YouCat: I. Creed: (nn. 32-40)
  • 4. Passion and Death of Christ (nn. 32-36)
  • 5. Resurreciton (nn. 37-40)
  • Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about the story of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord.
  • Chose different fragments of the Passion of Jesus and of his resurrection, read them and make Lectio Divina about it.
  • Meditate in different days the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries of the Rosary. Each time one mystery.
  • Watch with them the video of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord.

Tenth Family Catechesis (24^th - 30^th Apr)

•  I belong 7 Page 74 Liturgy of Eucharist (Rite of OFFERTORY) 
  • Before his Passion Jesus celebrated the Last Supper where He used bread and wine to establish the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. He celebrated the Eucharist with his apostles after his Resurrection and after his Ascension into Heaven, Jesus celebrates this Holy Meal through the priests He has established in his Church.
  • Put in relation the preparation of the Altar, with the preparation of a Family Meal. (Something like Everyday life in I belong 7 Page 68)
  • God feed his People
  • Read the story of the Manna in the desert and the story of how Jesus multiplied the bread to feed the crowd. Comment them and connect them with the Eucharist we celebrate. (I belong 7 Page 70-73)
  • For our bodily life we need to eat food. We receive the food from God who has created and offered to us everything. We receive this offering and elaborate, prepare and cook the food to prepare our family meal.
  • For our spiritual life we need to eat spiritual food, that is the Eucharist, the body of Christ. To give us this spiritual food, Jesus wants to receive from us the bread and wine, fruit of the earth and work of human hands, so that He prepare them for us sending upon them His Holy Spirit, changing the bread into his Holy Body, and the wine into his Holy Blood.
  • To receive Jesus, his Holy Body and Blood, we have to put into his hands our own lives, represented in the bread and wine we give to Jesus through the hands of the priests. I belong 7 Page 75
  • Colour the picture of the page 73 where the boy handed to Jesus all the food that he had and Jesus used them to do the great miracle.
• YouCat (nn. 41-46)
  • 6. Ascension of Christ (nn. 41-43)
  • 7. Second coming to judge (nn. 44-46)
    • Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about how Jesus ascended into Heaven to intercede for us. Yet He still remains with us in a mysterious way so that He is with us until the last day when He will come to establish for ever the Kingdom of God.
    • Read with them the reading of the final judgement Matthew 25:31-46 and make lectio divina.

Eleventh Family Catechesis (1^st - 7^th May)

•  I belong 8 Fruit of the vine 
  • I belong 8 Page 89 This is what that beautiful new world will be like (Rev 21:1-4) The Kingdom of God is presented as a Nuptial celebration and Banquet.
  • I belong 8 Page 88 At the Eucharist we think about the FUTURE. I belong 8 Page 85-87 
  • BIBLE The Wedding at Canna. There is a wedding. They have not enough wine and not the best wine. They have no more wine. There are Jesus and Mary, Jesus converted the water in the best wine ever. That was the first miracle of Jesus. Announce the great nuptial celebration in Heaven between God and his people, between Jesus and his Church. The new wine represents the new and eternal Life, the new and eternal Joy and Love of the Holy Spirit that the Blood of Christ gives us. 
  • I belong 8 Page 88 At the Eucharist we think about NOW. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. 
  • I belong 8 Page 80 “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5-6) 
  • I belong 8 Page 88 At the Eucharist we think about the PAST. 
  • I belong 8 Page 83 The Old Testament: Passover and cup of wine. 
  • I belong 8 Page 90 Jesus celebrated the Passover, during the LAST SUPPER. He offers to us the wine of the New Covenant, his own Blood, his own Life given up for our salvation. 
  • I belong 8 Page 91 If there is still time they can do the word search.
• YouCat: I. Creed: (nn. 47-57) 
  • 8. Holy Spirit (nn. 47-49) Gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. 
  • 9. Church (nn. 50-54) 
  • 10. Forgiveness of sins (nn. 55-57) 
  • Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about the Holy Spirit and the Church. 
  • Watch with them the videos about the Holy Spirit and the Church. 

Twelfth Family Catechesis (8^th - 14^th May)

• I belong 9 Do this in memory of Me
  • I belong 9 Page 96-98 Passover Old Testament, New Testament and Last Supper. 
  • Ex 12, 21-28 Passover
  • Lk 22, 19-20 Last Supper
  • I belong 9 Page 100-101(Church).102 (Everyday life) Read these pages with them, putting in connection the Celebration of the Eucharist during the Mass with the Last Supper and with the effects of celebrating the Mass and receiving the Eucharist in our lives. Read and comment the phrases in red of the page 104 (family life). 
  • Read with them the story of the Last Supper. Comment it and connect it with the Eucharist we celebrate. (I belong 9 Page 100-101) 
  • Colour the picture on page 99 
  • Make the word search on page 103
• YouCat: I. Creed: (nn. 58-63) I believe the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. 
  • 8. Resurrection of dead (nn. 58-59) 
  • 9. Life everlasting (nn. 60-63) 
  • Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about the Resurrection of dead and the eternal life in Heaven. Watch with them the videos about the Passover, Last Supper and Eucharist. 

Thirteenth Family Catechesis (15^th – 21^sth May)

 I belong 10: Body of Christ 

• I belong 10 Page 107 Everyday life:
  • the children will be thinking about how tadpoles and caterpillars change into frogs and butterflies. The outer appearances change, but the inner reality is the same. They will be led to think about how the opposite happens at the Eucharist. At Mass, the outer appearances of the bread and wine are the same, but the inner reality is different.
  • This example also will help children to understand how the same Jesus could appear in different ways to us, in a physical and corporal way on earth and in a sacramental and mysterious way in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
• I belong 10 Page 109-112 The encounters with the risen Christ of Mary Magdalen (John 20: 11-18) and the two disciples of Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35).
  • The sacraments, the Eucharist in a special way, are salvific meetings of love and joy with Jesus, who is alive in our midst in a mysterious and real way. On Sundays, through the liturgy of the Mass we attend the risen Lord encounter us as he did with Mary and the disciples of Emmaus, enlighten their lives with the explanation of the Scriptures and sharing with us His own body and blood through the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Priest, represent in a visible way Jesus, and it is Jesus through him who explain the Word of God to us and consecrate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and nourish our souls with this sacrament.
  • Read with them the story of the disciples of Emmaus. (I belong 10 Page 112)
  • Colour the picture on page 111
• I belong 10 Page 113-114(Church).
  • Page 113 concentrates on Christ present in the visible signs of bread and wine. What happens is different from our normal experience, for here the outward appearances remain the same, while the inner reality changes.
  • Read and comment with them the following discourse of the read of Life in John 6: 51-57

 I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world. I tell you solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. 

• Make the word search on page 115

• YouCat: II. Sacraments: (nn. 64-69. 74-87)
  • N.64 - Sacraments: 7 meeting points with God
  • 1. Baptism (nn. 65-69)
  • 4. Penance (nn. 81-87)
  • 3. Eucharist (nn. 74-80)
  • Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about the seven sacraments and the sacraments of Baptism, Penance (remember what in former meetings we have studied about them) and make especial study of the numbers referred to the Eucharist and Holy Mass.
  • Watch with them the new videos about the Disciples of Emmaus, and the Holy Eucharist.

Fourteenth Family Catechesis (22^nd – 28^sth May)

 I belong 11 To love and to serve (Concluding Rites) 

• I belong 11 Page 121-123 Read with them the “miraculous catch of fish” after resurrection (John 21: 1-17).
• This story, like the one of Emmaus last session, is a “model” of the Eucharist. Christ feeds us to do likewise: “Feed my lambs and sheep”. Note that the apostles, including trained fishermen, couldn’t catch fish themselves until they listen to the word of Jesus and put it into practice.
• The boat of the apostles represents the Church, who guided by the Lord through her net into the sea. The net represents the community of Christians who united by bonds of faith and love are thrown into the world, into the ordinary life after Mass, and through this testimony of faith and love in our ordinary lives we will get more people embraced by this community of love and led back to the Church represented by the boat.
• Colour the picture of page 123.
• I belong 10 Page 124 (Prayer of Saint Teresa of Avila).
• Say the prayer of Saint Teresa and talk with them about this mystery. In the Sunday Mass, through the Holy Communion we are more united to Christ as the members of his Mystical Body. After Mass we should bear the presence of Christ into the world, being the hands, the feet, the eyes, the hands of Jesus to bless all the people with the Peace we have received from God.
• Make the word search of page 127.

 YouCat: II. Sacraments: (nn. 70-73. 88-91) 2. Confirmation (nn. 70-73) 5. Anointing of the sick (nn. 88-91) 6. Holy Order (nn. 92-101) 7. Marriage + (sacramentals and liturgical year) (nn. 102-109) 

• Take a look to these numbers of the You Cat and comment with them about the sacraments of Confirmation, Anointing of the sick, Holy Order and Marriage.
• Watch with them the new videos about the Confirmation, Holy Order, Anointing of the Sick and Marriage.

FIRST COMMUNION (29^th May - 10^th Jun)