Children's Faith Formation

Hello everyone,

We will be using the same “Family Formation” program we used this previous year.  Faith Formation Registration for 2025/2026 season is already available.  

We are forward focused and are continuing to embark on the path that has been a major movement within the Faith Formation arena.  We have chosen to continue to participate in the “Family Formation” program here at Our Lady of Lourdes. This is a formation program that was created and designed by St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Ham Lake, Minnesota (a church within our Archdiocese). “Family Formation is a family-based catechetical program that helps families grow in the transforming love of God by understanding and living the Catholic Faith.”  The church of St Paul has continued to polish this family-based curriculum over the past 30 years and “Family Formation is a unique, challenging, and creative curriculum that makes living the Faith a way of life” – (Per their website).

A child’s Faith is best taught and lived out in the family and parents are considered to be the first and foremost educators of their children.  Because of this, children are more likely to put into practice the faith they see lived day-to-day at home. There is a receptivity and vulnerability to good formation which only happens in the early years of a child’s development, and only in the family. This family catechesis program helps families to embrace this time and use it to form Catholic Faith in their children well.

A careful reading through the documents of the Catholic Church quickly reveals the Church's great expectations for the family. “The right and duty of parents to give education is essential ... original and primary ... and it is irreplaceable and incapable of being entirely delegated to others” [Familiaris Consortio, 36]. Christ and His Church call parents to be “the first and foremost educators of their children” [Gravissimum Educationis, 3]. Family catechesis aids families in becoming the domestic churches they are called to be. [Lumen Gentium].
It is through the unique catechesis model of “Family Formation” that helps equip parents to pass on the Catholic Faith to their children, and grow in their faith together as a family. “Family Formation” brings a fresh approach to the difficulties experienced with traditional religious education programs that only provided the role of the church for a child’s catechesis.   The church has recognized its ineffective teaching and forming children if the parents were not involved in the process.

“Family Formation” was developed with an adult formation component that will teach and train parents in the Truths of the Faith, in which they will be able to teach their children.  “This model provides parents with the tools they need to share the Good News and the beauty of the Catholic Faith with their children and to form them into true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Through engaging, down-to-earth, easy to understand lessons and activities, Family Formation brings parishes and families together to learn their Faith in joy and with excitement. This shared learning experience develops traditions and spills over into families’ everyday lives—incorporating the Catholic Faith becomes a way of life!” (Per St. Paul’s Website)