You have been invited to accompany families as they encounter Jesus and experience the beauty of Reconciliation as it connects to daily life. Families will experience the love of Jesus as they talk together about the mending of relationships and the healing power of forgiveness.
As we begin this process, we must be mindful that many of our parents are not regularly going to Reconciliation. This can leave a void and disconnect as parents try to encourage their children to receive a sacrament they are not participating in. You are invited to help fill this void. Your accompaniment, encouragement, and patience could lead parents back to the sacrament with their children.
Table of Contents
Educational Terms and Concepts
Like any academic discipline, education has its own set of terms. While education as an academic discipline is not always known for universal understandings of terms it uses, there are some that have generally accepted usage and meaning.
This section is a collection of resources that catechists might find helpful as they prepare for their important ministry with the children they will teach.
The role of the Catechist – Mend
Catechists will be leading and guiding the children in their Sessions. This will include playing games, leading crafts, having conversations with a small group, managing group dynamics, and providing a safe trusted space for the children to feel a part of.
Your Role
- How you lead, your encouragement and your undivided presence, will be your greatest gift.
- You may have other helpers joining you, including older children. Make sure they understand the Sessions ahead of time and what you expect from them. This will ensure a better experience for all.
- You will be assigned a group of children to journey with. You will be the glue that holds the small group together. Your leadership will be important as you are called to help facilitate conversations, share the passion you have for your faith, and witness through your own life experiences with the children.
Archdiocesan Standards
18. Explain that through the priest Jesus forgives our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation because Jesus longs for us to be free of sin
19. Memorize the Act of Contrition
20. Demonstrate the procedure for celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation, including an examination of conscience, the dialogue with the priest, reciting an Act of Contrition, and performing the Penance given by the priest.
21. List and explain the signs and symbols of Reconciliation
SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
MEND AT-CHURCH
It is important to have parents gather periodically throughout the Mend process. The
goal of gathering is to:
Find out what is going well and what parents are struggling with in the Mend Box
Family Meetings.
To encourage, deepen, and support their experience of the Family Meetings with
any tips, inspiration, or information.
To continue to form parents in their personal faith journeys.
To meet and hear from other parents on a similar journey. There is wisdom in any room of adults, especially parents!
To give children a positive and meaningful experience at-church.
To pray together – for each other and for their families.
This resource has been provided to support you in facilitating family Sessions held at-church throughout the Mend experience. The Sessions include separate experiences for parents and children, and a combined family prayer experience to close your Sessions.There is plenty of content to fill a 1-1.5 hour time frame in the 2 Sessions and a 3 hour time frame for the Mini-Retreat. The parts from the Mini-Retreat can also be broken up into additional individual sessions. The Mini-Retreat material could be used from start to finish or you can use different parts to supplement content you may have already planned. Session 1 is designed to be used between Family Meeting 2 and 3. Session 2 is designed to be used between Family Meeting 6 and 7. If you are introducing families to Immediate Formation resources for the first time, be sure to begin with the Celebrate Session available before Session 1. This experience will help provide a framework for both the purpose and direction of this stage of formation. Families will need to have the holy water bottles included in their box filled at-church. You can fill them before distributing the boxes or during the Celebrate Session.
There are supplies that need to be pulled together to help bring these lessons to life. We have given you supply lists. We have also suggested ways to set a mood in the room; candles, music, dimming the lights etc. We feel it is critical to set holy spaces to lead families into deeper intimacy with Christ and themselves. The children’s Sessions always begin with gathering around a prayer table covered with different items for each lesson to help draw them into the experience. Depending on the size of the group, you may decide to break the group up into classrooms led by catechists and helpers.
As a Church we are just beginning the journey of calling parents into the opportunity of forming their children and themselves more deeply. We realize parents are in different places and stages in their own faith journeys. We have written Sessions we feel best take into account today’s parents. The majority of the parents we encounter have very little theological background, but have the wisdom of their own lives to reflect on. We have found that when we give them helpful prompts and time to process, they do very well in sharing with each other. Parents, for the most part, are coming to these Sessions because they’ve been told they have to, and probably aren’t expecting anything that will truly impact their lives. It is our hope that these Sessions meet them where they are at and slowly lead them into something more. Feel free to scale the material up or down. It is most important that families leave with a positive experience of Church and community, feeling like they have a place in it.
ACCOMPANIMENT
TEAM NEEDS
We realize each of our directors have different gifts; some are wonderful teachers, some are storytellers, others are better facilitating small groups, some are gifted in finding volunteers to present material. Use your strengths to lead your family Sessions, and look for others who can take the pieces you are not as confident in. It takes a team! Invest in time with your accompaniment team. Having a strong team of people committed to the same mission helps everyone. Offer time to get to know one another, provide skills training, and spend time in prayer together. We want our parents to feel like they are being invited into a group that has been preparing for them and enjoys each other. Our Beside resources can be helpful in forming and growing your accompaniment team.
Facilitator
Choosing a facilitator to lead your Sessions as an MC from the front is an important decision. This person will introduce and weave together the content for each Session. This person should be warm, engaging, confident, and it helps if they have a good sense of humor. This person needs to be open and non-judgmental. It will be their voice that will help the group grow together.
Companions
We recommend placing a companion in each small group if possible. Make sure companions feel comfortable with the flow of each Session. It is very helpful to have them walk through a sample Session together. Leave time at the end of each Session with the companions to evaluate the experience. To make this a great experience for all we must be checking in regularly, making any needed changes as soon as possible.
The companions should be made aware of the following:
- Make sure each group member has the chance to participate.
- Do not allow any group member to control the sharing.
- Do not make anyone feel forced to share. Parents can decide to “pass.”
- Make sure all parents feel respected and listened to. Having cell phones put away will help with this.
- Companions will set the tone for the sharing. If they want a deeper, more thoughtful response from parents, they will need to model that in their own sharing. The group will usually follow their lead.
- Do not monopolize the sharing. It works well if companions begin the sharing and then pass it on to the other members.
- Companions should be listening to all parent responses, and be ready to ask follow up questions that help expand parent’s answers. It is important that they remember information discussed and check in with parents in future Sessions:
- “How is your sick mother doing?”, “How was your vacation time with your family that you were looking forward to?”.
- Each group sharing time is preempted by a journaling and reflection time for processing. This should help the parents be prepared to share. No one likes to be put on the spot.
- If anything is ever discussed in small group time that is inappropriate or alarming it should be brought to the attention of the Faith Formation Director.
Catechist
Catechists will be leading and guiding the children in their Sessions. This will include playing games, leading crafts, having conversations with a small group, managing group dynamics, and providing a safe trusted space for the children to feel a part of.
The catechists should be made aware of the following:
- How you lead, your encouragement and your undivided presence, will be your greatest gift.
- You may have other helpers joining you, including older children. Make sure they understand the Sessions ahead of time and what you expect from them. This will ensure a better experience for all.
- You will be assigned a group of children to journey with. You will be the glue that holds the small group together. Your leadership will be important as you are called to help facilitate conversations, share the passion you have for your faith, and witness through your own life experiences with the children.
Hospitality
Hospitality is about much more than setting out cookies and water bottles. Great hospitality is the root for the growing that will take place. Having a team that interacts well together, and welcomes you into their community, will help the families get comfortable almost immediately. This will produce greater engagement in the Sessions. This type of hospitality requires that facilitator and companions become friendly with the families from the moment they arrive. It includes asking good questions, being vulnerable, and helping everyone feel seen.
How the room “feels” is also an important part of the hospitality recipe. Covered tables, simple centerpieces, and the glow of a few candles will encourage the parents to lean into the conversation, like a great dinner party. Take the time to set the room in advance, so that families walk into a space that feels prepared for them. A prayer table up front with changing images each Session can also be a small voice speaking into the room. Find creative people in your community who have a heart for families and let them loose to work their magic.
Intercessors
Having intentional intercessors who are praying for your families and your ministry is an important step to staying on mission. Prayer always needs to be integral to the work we do. People in your parish community who take the time to talk with Jesus often and who understand the struggles and difficulties facing families are perfect to help in this role. These prayer warriors can be organized as a group, orcan individually come before God for the needs of the parish families each day.
Prayer can be specially centered around this time of preparing for Reconciliation.
Intercessors can be invited to pray specifically for the following needs:
- For adults who are now parents, that they could be open in a new way to hearing
- God’s message of love and restoration for themselves.
- For children who are just beginning to know the weight of choices and decisions, that they learn to bring these feelings to the heart of Jesus through Reconciliation.
- For forgiveness, mercy, and grace within the life of our families. This is the first place children learn to reconcile and receive forgiveness.
- For the intentional time our families are spending at home sharing faith, that this investment will bear much fruit.
- For the other members of the accompaniment team at our parish who share their time and faith with our families.
MASTER PLANNER
Download the Pathways Master Planner found at the bottom of the Pathways for Parish use page here, to schedule and organize your implementation of Mend.
Family Follow Throughs
Time with family is precious. Following through with this family experience tells your child this is important. With your child, please complete the following tasks after each meeting to turn in.
Family Meeting 1: Email a picture of what your family created out of the creation dough.
Family Meeting 2: After completion of the Teaching and Activity presented in Meeting 2, email a picture of your family’s apples.
Family Meeting 3: Email a picture of where you found the lost sheep, with the sheep in place.
Family Meeting 4: Share one memory from your child’s Baptism that you recalled today. Email a short response.
Family Meeting 5: Share your child’s reflection and thoughts on the teaching and activity in this family meeting. Email a short response.
Family Meeting 6: Email a picture of your completed Act of Contrition card.
Family Meeting 7: Share your child’s reflection and thoughts on the teaching and activity in this family meeting. Email a short response.
Assignments
Resources
On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update. You can subscribe to our podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
