First Communion

Please click on the following links for information about our First Communion preparation program.

Communion Program for 2022-2023     Confession Prayers     Mass Prayers

Please scroll down for information about our new First Communion preparation program for 2023-2024.

The rehearsal for the parish First Communion Mass is on Saturday, April 22, at 12:00 noon in church, and everyone should enter by the south narthex doors as they do for Sunday Mass.  Here are some special instructions for the parish First Communion Mass on Saturday, April 29, at 12:00 noon in church.

The First Communion students should be dropped off at the lower Hamilton Street doors, so they may get ready in Fracaro Hall. Families and guests should enter by the upper narthex doors to the south.  Those who cannot fit in the assigned family pew must be seated elsewhere in church.

Girls should wear white dresses; veils are optional. Boys should wear white shirts and dark pants. There should be no other paraphernalia. If there are any religious objects, they will be blessed at the rehearsal on Saturday, April 22, at 12:00 noon in church.

The students will enter in procession from the back of the church and go to the assigned pews for their family. At Communion time, the First Communicants will come up with their parents, followed by the rest of their family seated in the assigned pew.

After the final hymn of the Mass, the students will be brought up to the altar steps for a group picture. Additional pictures may be taken at other places in the church after this group picture. There are no pictures during the actual distribution of Holy Communion.

First Grade or First Year Students complete their assigned DRE level one lessons. They also learn the basic prayers and the Mass responses from the Catechism of the Heart. At Sunday Mass, children may come forward with their family to receive a blessing instead of Holy Communion. Their active participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each Sunday will prepare them for the day when they can receive Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Second Grade or Second Year Students complete their assigned DRE level two lessons. They also learn their Confession prayers and master all the Mass responses from the Catechism of the Heart. There are parent-student meetings in the fall and in the spring to prepare for these two sacraments. First Confessions are usually celebrated during Advent, and First Communions are usually celebrated during Easter time.

Registration information comng soon for our DRE courses in grades one and two.
Sacramental preparation is an integral part of DRE. CGS students also take DRE for their sacramental preparation.
In the second year of your sacramental studies, you will be invited to our parent-student preparation meetings.

Our online home study DRE course is a comprehensive eight-year religious education program that should be continued after First Communion in preparation for Confirmation. CGS students may take DRE at no additional cost. Please click here for more information about DRE at our parish. 

Just like our two-year First Communion program, our Confirmation program consists of two years as well. Please click here for information about our Confirmation preparation program. The sacraments are received when the students are prepared, and not at any particular age or grade level.

Finally, for the Catechism of the Heart, please click here, and for our parish Continuing Religious Education programs, please click here. Religious education does not conclude with Communion and Confirmation. It only really begins then! Please click here for more information.