In our parishes we are committed to supporting one another in becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, fully alive to God and to one another. We welcome people of all ages and backgrounds to encounter the living God who comes to us in the sacraments and above all in our celebration of the Eucharist. We are a parish committed to renewal, believing that the beautiful gift of faith is too precious to be taken lightly and too important not to be encouraged to grow and flourish. We therefore approach preparation for the sacraments in a way that may be different to what you have been used to in the past.
We are committed to a family centred approach to the sacraments which supports parents in bringing up their children in the faith, and thus our preparation programme for First Holy Communion adopts what we refer to as a readiness approach, where the focus of that preparation is the child being ready to receive the sacrament. This means that rather than the children following a structured, one-size-fits-all course, which is on a strict timetable, and then making their First Holy Communion as a group on a fixed day, First Holy Communion instead takes place when each individual child and its parents feel they are ready for First Confession and First Holy Communion.
The readiness of the child is assessed by the parish priest and his catechetical team and, when agreed, the child is invited to make their First Holy Communion at a regular Sunday Mass throughout the year.
Enrolment in the First Holy Communion program is by submission of a completed application form available from the the parish office by [javascript protected email address]
The full First Holy Communion policy document published November 2024, from which the above highlights have been taken, can be read here.
