Family Faith Formation





The faith community of St. Gianna’s, believes that faith formation is a lifelong process and that parents are the primary spiritual and moral educators of their children.  We believe that the most important gift parents can give their children is a strong foundation in our Catholic faith.  The faith of the parents so profoundly impacts their children, that there is no substitute for parental involvement in their children’s faith formation.  The Family Faith Formation process at St. Gianna’s is not a process between the children and the catechists alone.  It involves both the immediate family and the church family.  It does not replace catechesis that stems from the home, but has the privileged responsibility to support it.

This catechetical experience is made complete when parents and families are examples of the faith.  Families are strongly encouraged to participate regularly in Sunday liturgies and Holy Days.  They are encouraged to regulary participate in the Sacraments, serve in Parish ministries, live the Gospel, pray and talk to your children about their faith, live lives of service, and continue in their own personal faith formation.
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‘Word of Life’

– Family Faith Formation & Sacramental Preparation
This September, we begin a New Family Faith Formation Process for registered members with children Grade 1-6 (correction from flocknote), and for those preparing for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.
* Children preparing for a Sacramental celebration will only be accepted into the Faith Formation process in SEPTEMBER 2023.

First Reconciliation and First Eucharist
Preparing to receive God’s forgiveness and the Body and Blood of Jesus through the Sacraments of Reconciliation (Confession) and Eucharist for the first time is an exciting time.  It is filled with faith, learning and fun as they come to deepen their relationship with God.  All baptized parishioners who are in 2nd grade and higher are invited to begin the formal preparation to receive these Sacraments.

Confirmation
Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds.
Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation is open to active, registered parishioners who are in 6th grade and higher.

Click here to Register Now!

For more information, please contact Rachel Suarez-Banmann, our Family Faith Formation Coordinator at [email protected] 



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The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd 2023 – Registration is now FULL!
(Registration is limited due to space constraints.  Interested participants are accepted in order of registration received).

Registered parishioners please see the new flocknote emails as we continue to engage our families with weekly Family Faith Activities for each Sunday.  To sign-up for Family Faith Formation by Text, please see the button below to register.

Family Faith Formation TEXTs
During the past few months, our lives have been focused on navigating through uncharted territory.   The same is true with the Church.  We have been working hard on figuring out how we continue to minister to our parish and community in light of the new ’normal’.  Growing in our faith is a lifelong journey and it is important that we continue to encourage and support this growth in our families.

With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the encouraging words of Pope Francis; “In the call of the first disciples, with Jesus who went to encounter them and to invite them to follow him, we also see the invitation to use all media, in all their forms, to reach people as they are and where they live.”

We have reshaped our approach to family faith formation so that we might encounter our parishioners as they are and where they are.  Our new approach involves engaging our families to build up the Domestic Church, a term used to refer to growing a home faith environment, by directly sending the parents daily “faith moments” to their cell phones by text so that they can share and participate as a family anytime during their day.  These moments will be simple and doable even in the most busiest of lives, only taking a couple of minutes to complete.  We have chosen texting as the platform in order to keep the materials quickly accessible and spontaneous.  Our hope is that in the absence of a formal faith formation process, we may keep alive the flame of faith in the foundation of the family – the first church.  This opportunity is open to all registered parishioner families.

Register for Family Faith by TEXT

For more information, please contact Rachel Suarez-Banmann at [email protected] or use the inquiry button below.

Make An Iquiry