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Reconciliation Parent Meeting

Added Sep 15, 2020 •

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Show Transcript

Welcome everybody thanks for taking the time to tune into this meeting. I'd like to introduce myself my name is Karl Horwath and I am the director of Elementary Faith formation. I just started a few months ago, i'm real glad to be able to be here with you tonight even though it's a little bit different than I know what most of us are used to and we're still getting used to a lot of that and I just a few details as we go through if there is a chat box on side of your video there I am able to see that so if you have any questions as we go or anything like that you're able to put that right in there and it'll be able to get to me. So if you have questions as we go I can answer any of those questions that you have tonight if you're watching this later you can leave a message in the comments below and and that'll also get to me or you can also reply to any of the questions or reach mean by my email which will include at the end of the video here tonight.

Let's take a moment to begin just by praying together. In the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit  we ask you to pour out your spirit. Be with Us Lord be with us here tonight. I thank you for this day and I just asked you to remove any distractions from the day to let us take a moment to be able to begin to focus on you and what you call us to do as parents with out children. and we also saw through Christ Our Lord amen.

So I'd like to introduce myself a little bit more as I said before my name is Karl I just relocated here to Lakeville and I'm really excited to be able to come here and to have my family join the community and be able to serve here all saints.  My wife Kaitlyn and I have been married for 8 years now and we have three children Kolbe Zelie and Felix. this is the best picture we could get not a whole lot of Great Smiles in there but you know how it goes with kids and trying to get a photo this is one of about 3 thousand that we took in that time. A little bit more about me I grew up about an hour east of the Twin Cities in a small farm town and I was raised in Catholic Family but faith was after thought.  You know we went to Mass on Sunday and we didn't really do much outside of that and we went to CCD classes but that's about it. We didn't really talk about our faith, we didn't really pray together we can pray before meals or anything and then when I was in high school I got kind of roped into going on a retreat and on that retreat the first time I met the Lord in person and really encountered him to the Eucharist during a time of adoration. I've never been adoration before i didn't really even know what was going on but it was the first time you know God was real to me. and  i heard him speak to me. It made everything kind of concrete you know I went through the classes in the formation that at the parish. I  was kind of told things but didn't really understand them and this was the moment I made it all concrete and It  made everything change. It wasn't just bread at Mass anymore but it was Jesus and all these things that they taught me it kind of started rethinking them and considering them again and in new ways. It was actually since then that I really knew the Lord is calling me to serve in Ministry in the church and when I started I worked mostly with high school students and 5 years ago I took a job working with elementary students. I was a little hesitant at first but it actually ended up being the favorite part of my job. Being able to work with younger students and getting ready for the sacraments as we're doing here. To be able to see them encounter the Lord in the sacraments and to receive him it just taught me so much. Their openness and their faith and their their trust in the Lord. It's taught me a lot in my own faith and being able to see them and I love working with the younger kids to do that especially to get ready for reconciliation and for first Eucharist.

So just to kind of outline what we're going to do tonight, because of the format that we're doing and I know it's a little bit different for people and we're still getting used to it. So bear with me as we go through this and it's a little bit different for me to so I'm still getting used to it. So feel free to throw anything you want in the chat on the side or in the comments on the I want to be able to get here. As we go your questions are really going to be able to help me as we go to make sure that we cover everything that you need to know tonight and that you understand the program. So what we're going to do is just going to go to the details the format of the program to make sure that you comfortable with it and that you understand it. Again those questions, please throw them in the chat so that I can be able to see it.

To begin with, our program, you know the church recognizes that parents have their primary responsibilities in raising their children in the and that the parish is here to assist you in this task and that's really what we're able to do. It's a partnership between the parish and you. When you baptize your child and you had them in the church and take a candle and you lit it and you promise to keep that light, the flame of Faith alive in your child and the people of the parish agreed to support you and doing this which is what we're here to do here.  So we're here to support you to be able to get you resources to be able to help you do this. and to start a really just like you to take a moment to kind of reflect and think about your own formation. Your own time getting ready for the sacraments. If you can remember what it was like. If it was a good experience. If there's some parts of it you wish were better. Then take a moment to think what are your hopes for your child to this program what would you like for them through this and if you're up for it and like to be able to share that in the chat. As for me I don't really remember a whole lot about any of my preparation getting ready or even my actual first confession or first communion doing that.  I do remember that I was really nervous and I remember that I didn't really feel comfortable knowing what to do and I really wasn't sure and I remembered in early like it.  I also know that when I went to confession that first time in second grade I know I didn't go again until Retreat that I told you about earlier, in high school  and so I was told the older kids that I worked with don't do what I did. Go to confession regularly at least once a year like the church asks us to do. Through this practice that we get better and we get more comfortable being able to do it. Working with children for a while and being able to see what they enjoy more, it's it's being able to see that God really wants to give them a gift and that God has something special that he wants to share with them. He wants to do in them and through them to the sacrament. I think it kind of gets overlooked as we really focus on that first communion mass and being able to get ready for first eucharist together and I think sometimes we don't spend as much time with reconciliation as we should. The way that we have this program setup is it set up for you as parents as a primary catechists to be able to do this with your children to be able to prepare them together and to be able to learn and to grow together. So you sure don't have to be an expert to do this. You don't have to have all the answers and you do not have to be perfect to be able to do it. Reconciliation means to bring back eyelashed eyelash, if you break down the word. To bring back that close, that's what reconciliation means. It brings us back to God, it doesn't matter where we been, what we've done, what we said. It's about turning to him and being able to receive his forgiveness. It's about love. So whether you go to confession once a month, or once a year, or if you haven't been in years. You can always come back to him and receive this forgiveness and this Mercy and that's what we make sure that the kids understand as they get ready. That God loves them no matter what and that he wants to show this love for them and that this is one of the ways that he's able to do that. As parents  I know not being able to have all answers can be heard sometime and that's what this program is meant for you guys to be able to go through together. You don't have to have it all figured out. But what were going to be able to do it it's about modeling what we do for them be able to show them to be able to come back whether it's been a long time or not where you go a lot make sure that they know that you go to confession and that they can see you do that. It's important to modeling forgiveness. With 3 in kids at home there's a lot of time spent having to tell them to tell their so their brother or sister we have to be sorry with each other. That's something that we do all the time. So just making sure that that's a priority and that they understand that we have to do the same thing with God. It's in this is the way that were able to do that (with him).  You know I really hope that this is an enjoyable process for you. I know meetings like this are going to be a little bit different and this year's going to have a little bit different feeling it's not going to quite be the same. Whether you done our program or not before everything's going to be a little bit different but you know I think we can work together and be able to do this to have a good experience together. And be able to have this would be something that's enjoyable for you and for your family and especially your child getting ready the sacraments this year.

So I'd like to switch over in and just kind of go through quickly and what the program consist of in the different steps of it and again that Chat is open on the side so you can throw any questions that you have in there as we go. Make sure. I want to make sure that you guys understand this is as well as possible. All right I just got to get the right slide up. 
1. Alright so first of all just to make sure that we're on the same page here there's kind of two parts to this. so the Sacramento preparation is in addition to our regular Faith enrichment program. So you have to be enrolled in either fep your face enrichment program or Catholic School. So make sure that you registered for those. If you got the email for this link to be able to do that you're in your registered if you haven't make sure you visit our website at bottom there to be able to do that. And then you also have to register for Sacramento prep so even if you're enrolled in school and you're not going to enroll in fep you still have to go to the website, www.allsaintschurch.com/fep and to be able to register for sacraments. Okay so make sure you do that if you have any questions, just get get a hold of me and let me know. Make sure that you're enrolled in both of those even done it as soon as we're done here please go for go out website to to do that. 
2. Next you're going to get a packet either in the mail or if you're enrolled at All Saints school here it will be you'll get it in your Thursday folder, would be sent home for you in that. In the packet is just going to be a welcome letter, some important dates on there, and some important links to be able to find things. so please take the time to go through that, all the dates in there, and if you have any questions, again, just let me know. Also in there is going to be your books for the home part of preparation. So your main book is going to be this one is called we prepare for reconciliation. So I want to make sure that you know on the inside here if you turn to the middle, there's what looks like the front cover again. This is the part for you so as a parent, you'll be able to take this out, it just pops right out, if I can get it, there. So this part pops right out and this is for you to be able to go through, so when you get the book in your like how the heck do I know what to do well this, the center part that you're able to take out and it will guide you through the book. In this book there are five sections to be able to go through and it's kind of up to you as you go through. In the welcome letter I included a schedule in there, to be able to follow. I suggested calendar to be able to go through and do that, and it's kind of up to you if you want to plow through it all at one time you're welcome to do that if you want to take it one week at a time or take a couple weeks, like my schedules I put in there you're able to do that. Also in there there is another little book that's called my first reconciliation activity book. This just has some additional things you can work through this whenever you want to. It's just a little bit extra stuff to do with your child to be able to get ready for first reconciliation,  words activities and things to learn in there. you can do we can do one at a time or go through a few of them. You guys can do that together and then also in there there's going to be a 1/2 sheet that has an examination of conscience and the act of contrition on there and my steps for going through confession. This is really important because we want children to be as ready as possible and as comfortable as possible when they go in for the first reconciliation and in order to do that they got to practice it a few times. So you can take that and use that examine a couple times before the first reconciliation you can start doing it as soon as you have it and it will help them get ready and understand it as much as possible and to be able to learn that act of contrition as well as they can. and we will understand the steps for confession as best as they can beforehand.

Next be the parent meetings that we have coming up. So this is the first of two that we're going to have so thank you for joining us tonight. The next one's going to be there's two options, option one is October 5th from 7:45 to 9 in option 2 is October 7th from 7:15 to 8:30. Tonight's going to be a little bit shorter just because the nature of it. Doing this with it being live and everything it'll probably a little bit short of those. Next ones will will probably take the full-time and it's going to be through Zoom because we want those to be more conversation based. So father's going to join us for those I'm to be able to give short teaching in the beginning and have some time for discussion with each other afterwards. So sign-ups are going to be required for those and we'll be able to send those out through email later. 
Next the activity days.We have three options for the activity days. If you've done it before it's going to be a little bit different this time it's take about an hour to complete. It's going to be Learning Centers, Learning Station set up throughout the church so you're going to be able to go through and do those together. There were not going to have the same activities as before, just to be able to keep our distance in order make sure of what can get through on time. We're going to have those Center setups you're going to be able to go through one at a time and work all the way through and it should take about an hour to complete. We're going to have details and sign up for that again by email.
Next of course the day that you're waiting for working to have first reconciliation on Saturday November 21st from 10:30 to noon. Again we'll  have more details as we get closer going to be able to work out all those details to have you come in and make sure there were meeting all of the the regulations and the guidelines that we have to keep everyone safe during that time.

All these dates are available to you in the packet, so soon as you get that package in the mail or get it in your Thursday folder. I know you're going to have all those dates as well here's my contact information so I thank you all for joining us tonight looking forward to partnering with you and be able to get your children before reconciliation as we go I know this is a little unique and something that we're not really used to and we're still grown into together but I'm excited to be able to do this with you and looking forward to being able to meet more of you and especially to the zoom session and to be able to have that chance. So feel free to get ahold of me with whatever questions you have as you go as they're working through the packets and the books any questions that you have if you're not sure how something works or anything else that you're wondering feel free to give me a call or just send me an email. That is all that I have for you guys tonight so thank you so much for joining us whether you're watching us live right now or whether you're watching this at a later date thanks so much for taking the time and I look forward to working with you .

Uploaded by Karl Horwath.

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Reconciliation Parent Meeting

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