The Eucharist

First Holy Communion
The next step in the spiritual journey of a child is receiving their First Holy Communion. Traditionally the Catholic Church deems a person to have reached the age of reason, in which they have begun to be morally aware when they have turned 7 years of age. It is the duty and responsibility of the parent to help their children in this next step of their Catholic faith. Part of the process for children making First Holy Communion is also making one's first confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. However, preparations for both Sacraments are incorporated into the same classes. Children will make Reconciliation before their First Holy Communion. Children will then receive First Holy Communion during the Easter season. Registration for classes takes place in April or May and classes start in the fall. Please contact the Faith Formation Office for more information.

THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
1322 - The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

1323 - “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’” Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 1322 & 1323