St. Anne’s Religious Education

Jesus' command to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of a nations......"is the basis upon which our Catechetical ministry is built. "Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young and adults, which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness; of Christian life." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 5) Catechesis is essential for on-going development of a personal relationship with Jesus as the foundation for discipleship for "at the support; heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth."

Catechesis has four main aims:
To proclaim the Christian Message
To prepare for prayer and worship
To build up community
To motivate for Christian living and Service.

To accomplish this our Religious Education program is not Sacramental oriented but rather our goal is a life long education. We invite our families who have chosen to educate their children in the Public schools to become involved in created the space for our children to experience the four goals of our Catechetical Ministry

Classes are held on Sundays after the 9:00 AM Mass.

For information on St. Anne's C.C.D. School please contact Sr. Alberta, our D.R.E.

Adult Education:

Adult Catechesis is essential for on-going development of a personal relationship with Jesus as the foundation for discipleship for "at the support; heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth." Too often our Adults see Religious education as something for their children. Their personal education ceases whenever there stop attending grammar school or high school. This creates the problem of having Adult Religious Experiences and attempting to deal with them with a vocabulary that was gain as a child or teenager. We become frustrated when this vocabulary is insufficient to help us deal with our adult situation.

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

Adults who have not been Baptized or have been Baptized in another Christian Community and wish to enter into full communion with the Church and adults who have not received the Sacraments of Communion and Confirmation, please contact the Rectory for further information.

Sacrament of Baptism:            

The celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism is a lifelong journey and commitment to be "church".  At St. Anne’s we recognize the major responsibility that the parents and the community have in choosing to celebrate infant Baptism. To assist the parents in their duty as Christian parents we supply an adult enrichment program for the parents and godparents. This program is for the spiritual benefit of the parents and godparents and also an opportunity for our parish family to share in your joy.

Infant Baptisms take place on the 1st Sunday of each month at 10 AM or 12 PM Mass.  There will be a maximum of 2 baptisms per Mass.

Prior arrangements are necessary. There is a pre-baptismal program for parents and
godparents to assist them in the preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism.

Please make arrangements by calling the rectory for an appointment.

Sacrament of Penance:

One of the great gifts of the Church is the Sacrament of Penance. In the early Church it was nicknamed "Second Baptism" . So often in our life as we journey to the kingdom, we awaken to the fact that our life style or life patterns have not been what they should or could be. We realize that we have lost our original fervor or relationship with God, or we have simple lost our way and like the prodigal son we want to return home. We want to renew our baptismal promises and begin a new. We do not have to be re-baptized when this spiritual event occurs. We can turn to the Sacramental gift of Penance and celebrate that tender healing of the Father’s embrace and return home. At St. Anne’s we encourage our members to develop a confessor. That is a priest who comes to know us as individuals and can share spiritual direction as well as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is normally done by appointment with your confessor.  Also to assist you in your spiritual growth we schedule confessions routinely in the reconciliation rooms in the Church. These rooms are built to give the penitent a choice of going face to face or staying behind the screen for anonymity.

Saturdays 1-1:30 PM and  5-5:30PM or by appointment

Holy Days as announced

Religious Education:

The education of our youth and the sharing of our heritage is a priority in our parish. We have two schools to aid our parents in their mission as primary educators of the faith. We invite all members of our parish to become actively involved with the school of their choice.

St. Anne’s Religious Education

Jesus' command to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of a nations......"is the basis upon which our Catechetical ministry is built. "Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young and adults, which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness; of Christian life." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 5) Catechesis is essential for on-going development of a personal relationship with Jesus as the foundation for discipleship for "at the support; heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth."

Catechesis has four main aims:
To proclaim the Christian Message
To prepare for prayer and worship
To build up community
To motivate for Christian living and Service.

To accomplish this our Religious Education program is not Sacramental oriented but rather our goal is a life long education. We invite our families who have chosen to educate their children in the Public schools to become involved in created the space for our children to experience the four goals of our Catechetical Ministry

Classes are held on Sundays after the 9:00 AM Mass.

For information on St. Anne's C.C.D. School please contact Sr. Alberta, our D.R.E.

Adult Education:

Adult Catechesis is essential for on-going development of a personal relationship with Jesus as the foundation for discipleship for "at the support; heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth." Too often our Adults see Religious education as something for their children. Their personal education ceases whenever there stop attending grammar school or high school. This creates the problem of having Adult Religious Experiences and attempting to deal with them with a vocabulary that was gain as a child or teenager. We become frustrated when this vocabulary is insufficient to help us deal with our adult situation.

CFM

Christian Foundations for Ministry is designed for those who want to deepen and enrich their personal relationship with God, assume responsibility for their own spiritual formation; examine their lives in light of the Gospel ; discern their giftedness for ministry; respond to the needs of the Church and the world. This program welcomes new parishioners, newly initiated Catholics, anyone who is searching for a role in the life of the Parish, of the Church it is an excellent follow-up to RCIA.

Various Forms of Spirituality

At. St. Anne’s we attempt to Assist you in your Spiritual Development:

The Second Vatican Council clearly proclaimed this universal call to holiness, this deepening of Christian conversion.  The Council stated that it is a unique call requiring a unique response, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is characteristic that women and men hear the call to holiness in the very web of their existence (Lumen Gentium, 3 1).  The response to this requires a spiritual foundation that continually generates a lived spirituality.

Spirituality is about noticing and sensitively listening to the leading of the Spirit of God in our own hearts and in the manifold expressions of God's presence in our life, in family, parish, work, people, events, and our total world.  Spiritual life begins when people realize that there is something going on between themselves and God and when they make the choice to be involved in that.  St. Anne’s tries to provide the baptized with a type of spiritual formation that furthers the living out of this call and gift.

Personal Prayer is at the heart of an individual's spiritual journey.  There are many types of prayer in the Christian tradition that may be useful for a particular person's spiritual journey. There are also various forms of prayer that may be useful at one time or during one stage of development and then another at another time or for another stage.  There are certainly available to Catholics, the use of the Book of Christian Prayer (Breviary), ways of praying with the scriptures, meditation, centering prayer, contemplative prayer, Novenas and other spiritual devotions, the rosary, Eucharistic Holy Hours, the use of prayer books and other methods of prayer.

Group Support (group prayer) - People often benefit from group support in their spiritual lives and from group prayer.  At. St. Anne’s we have various styles of Group prayer. We invite you to share you prayer life in one of these groups.

Spiritual Aids: There are also a number of traditional skills that aid a person to continue to deepen spiritual life.  Spiritual reading, examinations of conscience, rules for spiritual discernment, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, devotions to the Saints, spiritual communions, ongoing spiritual direction, the spiritual exercises, and others are part and parcel of Catholic life.

Liturgy: Sunday Eucharist, Source and Summit of Christian Life Above all, the response to the call to holiness should come to expression through the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy, the central form of worship in the Church, the source and summit of Catholic spirituality and life.

While there are a number of ways in which the Church gathers in prayer, the Sunday Eucharist is the source and the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed. All other forms of communal prayer, including daily Mass, flow from the celebration of the Mass on the Lord's Day. (Ref.  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1322-1344)

The Sunday Eucharist, as the preeminent gathering of the local community at St. Anne’s

The Rosary is prayed publicly after daily Mass

Novenas: St. Anne, St. Jude and St. Anthony: Tuesday after daily Mass

Novena: Sacred Heart: First Friday after daily Mass

Novena: Our Lady of Perpetual Help: Every Wednesday 7 PM IN CONVENT CHAPEL

Novena: Our Lady of Fatima: First Saturday after daily Mass

Holy Hour for Priests: Tuesday Afternoons 3-4 in CONVENT CHAPEL

Benediction & Holy Hour: 1st Saturdays following Saturday Evening Mass.

Volunteers Vs. Ministry
As you join us in covenant we invite you to prayerfully meditate on the difference between volunteers and Christ centered ministry. Volunteers are people involved in social organizations or in public works. They are people who give generously of their time for the betterment of Society.

Ministry on the other hand is living out the baptismal calling to proclaim and witness the Gospel in our daily life. It is placing your time, your person and your financial resources at the disposal of God through the Church. We need you to consider tithing your time, talent and treasury. Read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and then prayerful consider your gifts and talents and how they can aid our community in growth and becoming the 5th Gospel.

As you register in our parish, we invite you to challenge where your spirituality is leading you. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for the benefit of the individual but for the benefit of the Community. We, at St. Anne’s, incorporate all our gifts and talents and mold them into a living sacrament (i.e. an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace) We become a visible presence of the Risen Lord. We are the body of Christ; through our actions and lifestyle, we visibly make manifest Christ’s presence in our world.  St. Thomas Aquinas said we must become "altus Christus" (another Christ). We are the hands of Christ who hold each other in tenderness.  We are the ears of Christ that listen to each other in our needs. We are the Mouth of Christ that speaks to each other of the Father's love. We are the feet of Christ that walk with each other on life's journeys.

For this reason, we invite each parishioner to spend some time in prayer, asking how your prayer life and spirituality is being expressed in some form of ministry.
What direction this meditation takes you in is between you and the Lord. Is He inviting you in some special way to minister to the needs of the family of St. Anne's? How can that ministry take form so that the Kingdom of God can be experienced here and now as promised by Christ. When Jesus began His "Public Ministry" He announced the "Kingdom of God was at hand". Enclosed find a list of possible ministerial opportunities. We invite you to join us.  How can your gifts and talents best aid our parish? Please fill out the enclosed form after prayerful reflection. Share the gift of your person with our parish. If you feel a ministry has not been noted and desire to help get that ministry started, let us know your suggestion and how to start it.