This coming year’s program will begin on the weekend of September 12/13, 2009.  At this time, you will be asked to sign up for a family interview to be held on Saturday, September 26th. Once you have obtained, read and completed the registration package, we ask that you bring it back to the church on September 26th for the family (parent & child) interview. On this day, members of the church staff will be speaking with each family about the parish preparation program for the reception of both First Reconciliation (Confession) and First Communion and answering any questions you may have.

At home, you the parents should be preparing your child for these important events.  Parents should pray with their children every day.  Children should attend Sunday mass weekly with their families and discuss things they see and hear at mass.  Weekly celebration of Eucharist on Sundays & regular confession are essential for Catholic Christians. When weekly mass attendance and regular confession become part of your family’s schedule, your child will develop an understanding of balance in their lives between school, extra-curricular activities and the need to worship and thank God with their church community.

Parents, by their words and practice, are responsible for teaching the faith to their children. Your actions and attitudes in the presence of the Blessed sacrament will form your child’s understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist more powerfully than any words or attempts at an explanation. Your participation at home in helping work through the provided resource materials with your child is critical in the preparation of your child to receive these sacraments. The parish and the schools will support you in the instruction of the sacraments, but for this to be truly meaningful, your child must experience how the faith they are learning about is lived. This is something only you the parents and your family can provide.

We recognize that not every student that attends our parish schools worships at St. Justin, Martyr Church. If your family is worshipping at another Catholic church on Sunday, such as St. Patrick’s or St. Agnes, your child may wish to receive First Reconciliation/First Communion at that church. Please contact your church for their registration information.

We pray and encourage you to see this task of preparation with your child as an opportunity to experience God’s action in your family. I promise you that if you take this task to heart, you and your family will experience that God is close to you and loves you.

Please note, for children to be eligible to receive the sacraments of First Reconciliation (First Confession) and First Eucharist (First Communion) the child MUST ALREADY be a baptized Roman Catholic, or has been formally received into the Catholic Church. If you are a baptized Roman Catholic parent and you want your child to be baptized, please contact the parish office immediately. A separate preparation program called R.C.I.C., the Rite of Christian Initiation of Children, will provide the Baptism, First Reconciliation and First Communion instruction needed for your child.

Important Notice for Children Baptized in the Orthodox Church or in an Eastern Rite Catholic Church   The Roman Rite is one of twenty-two rites in the universal Catholic Church. Many Catholics in the Archdiocese of Toronto were baptized in one of the various Eastern Rites that constitute the Catholic Church. It is the tradition of most of the Eastern Rites that those being initiated are confirmed and receive the Eucharist at the time of Baptism. Please check your child’s baptism certificate to verify if your child received the Eucharist at Baptism.                     When the parish in the usual conjunction with the Catholic schools are preparing the candidates for First Eucharist, those who are members of the Eastern Rite will be expected to take an active part in all aspects of the program at the parish and school.  If your child was baptized in an Eastern Rite Catholic Church and you are unsure if your child received First Communion, please contact a priest of the same tradition in which your child was baptized. Orthodox students are also welcome to participate in the lessons and retreats but may not be part of First Eucharist celebration masses.   If your child was baptized Catholic but your family attends a Protestant Church on Sundays, you should not be preparing your child for Holy Communion. Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion. First Eucharist is not a ‘step’ but a commitment to regular participation in the Eucharistic life of the church and a sacrament of initiation into the Catholic Church. It is not possible to attend another form of worship and to remain in communion with the Catholic Church. However, we invite you and your family to return to your Catholic roots and reconsider the promises you made for your child at their baptism.