Preparation for the Sacraments
Baptism
Infant baptism classes for parents and godparents are held on the third
Sunday of each month after the 8:30am Mass. Please call the
Church Office at 292-2884 ext. 300 for information and to reserve
a place in class. Adults seeking baptism, please see the section on
RCIA below.
First Penance and Eucharist (2nd Grade)
The First
Reconciliation and Eucharist Programs for Christ the King School and
Parish are integral parts of our children’s faith journey. In
second grade, our students learn about how all the sacraments are signs
of God’s presence in our community and provide strength for us to carry
out Jesus’ mission. Through faith formation, the students explore in
depth how Eucharist and Reconciliation teach us how to grow closer to
Jesus, through healing and thanksgiving. Our objective is to show our
students how to appreciate our liturgical and sacramental tradition as
ongoing resources of their faith formation.
Students learn the steps for receiving penance and communion while
understanding the deeper meaning of the sacraments. They work with
parents and families to learn symbols of their faith while creating a
banner to mark these special events in their lives. As a group, the
School and Parish Education students celebrate their enrollment and have
a retreat before receiving First Eucharist with the congregation on
Sunday, another step in the initiation process of our faith.
For more
information regarding our programs, please contact Kathy Skinner,
292-2884 ext 302 or
kathy.skinner@ctk.org.
Confirmation (8th Grade)
The
Confirmation program at Christ the King School and Parish is made of
different components and events that foster faith formation. The program
combines knowledge about our Church, encourages community within the
class but also with God’s entire world and provides opportunity for
service. Our objective is to not merely teach about this last aspect of
their Christian initiation but to support our youth to be mature and
active members of their faith community.
Our
students work with their homeroom catechist during the week or on
Sunday to learn knowledge related to the Church and its mission. Each
explores how s/he will be ministers for the Church using their unique
talents and gifts. Along with parents and teachers, all students meet
with their sponsors regularly to discuss how to live out the Christian
life in the midst of our world’s challenges. Sponsors are companions
along the journey and witnesses of their student’s readiness for the
sacrament. As a group, the School and Parish Education students
participate in events that foster community such as service projects,
retreats, and an enrollment Mass to prepare for Confirmation. Our goal
is to foster ministries within each student so that each will continue
to develop into the person that God calls each to become.
For more information regarding requirements for Confirmation candidacy
or more details about our program, please contact Kathy
Skinner, 292-2884 ext 302 or
kathy.skinner@ctk.org
Marriage
One of my ministries as a Permanent Deacon here at
Christ The King is that of counseling with couples who come to us to be married.
I love this ministry for two reasons:
1. It allows me to get to know the couples before officiating at their wedding.
2. It is a ministry I can share with my wife of 43 years in that she joins
us in some of our discussions.
We begin by telling couples we are not trying to keep
them from getting married ‚ we are simply trying to prepare them to stay married.
Presently we are doing three things in way of preparation,
once we have ascertained the couple is eligible for a valid marriage in the
Catholic Church.
We ask them to attend the weekend retreat organized
at the diocesan level. These retreat teams are composed of married couples
and a spiritual director and have been conducted in this diocese for more
than twenty-five years. It's a reality check.
Second, we ask them to complete an exercise called
PREPARE, a questionnaire of 160 multiple-choice questions taken by the man
and woman separately. It gives us some insight into what topics need to be
emphasized during our follow up chats ‚ role expectations, family issues,
sexuality, children, finances, religion, etc. The engaged couple is assigned
to one of five married team couples who are trained in this ministry and do
a fantastic job.
Thirdly, we, as a Parish, send them to Dr. Phil Guinsburg,
a nationally known expert on marriage communications, for a one-hour session.
He is very insightful, and this has proven to be a most worthwhile experience
for couples. On occasion, if an issue between the couple surfaces, we'll ask
them to meet with Phil more than once.
If I had to name two key points we try to make during
the pre-marriage counseling they would be these:
Life together will not always be a honeymoon. Life has its ups and downs.
Life is a series of passion, death and resurrections. And when they are
in the storms of life they have to remind themselves of that, and not jump
out of the boat. If they can learn to hold hands through the storms of life
they will share many rainbows together.
If they just wanted to be legally married they could go to a Justice of
the Peace, but they have chosen to come to the Church Community. By doing
that they are asking this Community and God to be involved in their lives
together. And by doing that they are raising their relationship to the level
of Sacrament It becomes something sacred! The Sacrament is not only their
wedding ceremony but is lived out the rest of their lives. Every time one
does something for the other they are living out the Sacrament of Matrimony.
And that taps into Gods infinite Grace. An Ode to Joy!
Go
to the Wedding Guidelines page >>>
Reconciliation
Confessions are heard weekly at our church on Saturday
afternoon from 3:45 to 4:15. One
may also call for an appointment to celebrate this sacrament. During the
Lenten Season the parish celebrates the sacrament as a community, with a
number of priests available after the service to hear individual confessions.
In the Gospel of St. John we read: "On the evening
of that day, the first day of the week," Jesus showed himself to his apostles.
"He breathed on them, and said to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained"' (Jn. 20:19, 22-23). The forgiveness of sins committed
after Baptism is conferred by a particular sacrament called the sacrament
of conversion, confession, penance, or reconciliation.
The sinner wounds God's honor and love, his own
human dignity as a person called to be a son or daughter of God, and the
spiritual well-being of the Church, of which each Christian ought to be
a living stone. To the eyes of faith no evil is graver than sin and nothing
has worse consequences for sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the
whole world.
To return to communion with God after having lost
it through sin is a process born of the grace of God who is rich in mercy
and solicitous for the salvation of men. One must ask for this precious
gift for oneself and for others. The movement of return to God, called conversion
and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, and
the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future. Conversion touches the
past and the future and is nourished by hope in God's mercy.
The sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in
three actions of the penitent and the priest's absolution. The penitent's
acts are repentance, confession or disclosure of sins to the priest, and
the intention to make reparation and do works of reparation. Repentance
(also called contrition) must be inspired by motives that arise from faith.
If repentance arises from love of charity for God, it is called "perfect"
contrition; if it is founded on other motives, it is called "imperfect."
One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God
and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the un-confessed grave
sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession
of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly
recommended by the Church. The confessor proposes the performance of certain
acts of "satisfaction" or "penance" to be performed by the penitent in order
to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting a
disciple of Christ. Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving
from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.
The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance
are:
[Adapted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.]
Holy Orders
Our parish is served by two kinds of ordained ministers:
the priest (or presbyter, in official terminology), and the deacon. However,
all members of the church share in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ. We
are a priestly people who offer the Eucharist together each day of the week.
St. Paul said to his disciple Timothy: "I remind
you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on
of my hands" (2 Tim 1:6), and "If any one aspires to the office of bishop,
he desires a noble task." (1 Tim 3:1) To Titus he said: "This is why I left
you in Crete, that you amend what was defective, and appoint presbyters
in every town, as I directed you" (Titus 1:5).
The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism
all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is
called the "common priesthood of the faithful." Based on this common priesthood
and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission
of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where
the task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ the Head in
the midst of the community.
The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from
the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power
for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service
for the People of God by teaching, divine worship and pastoral governance.
Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has been conferred and exercised
in three degrees: that of bishops, that of presbyters, and that of deacons.
The ministries conferred by ordination are irreplaceable for the organic
structure of the Church: without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, one
cannot speak of the Church (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1).
The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament
of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the Episcopal college and makes
him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As successors
of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic
responsibility and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the
Pope, successor of St. Peter. Priests are united with the bishops in sacerdotal
dignity and at the same time depend on them in the exercise of their pastoral
functions; they are called to be the bishops' prudent co-workers. They form
around their bishop the presbyterium which bears responsibility with him
for the particular Church. They receive from the bishop the charge of a
parish community or a determinate ecclesial office.
Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service
of the Church; they do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination
confers on them important functions in the ministry of the word, divine
worship, pastoral governance, and the service of charity, tasks which they
must carry out under the pastoral authority of their bishop.
The sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the
laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer of consecration asking God
to grant the ordained the graces of the Holy Spirit required for his ministry.
Ordination imprints an indelible sacramental character.
The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders
only on baptized men, whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry
has been duly recognized. Church authority alone has the responsibility
and right to call someone to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders.
In the Latin Church the sacrament of Holy Orders
for the presbyterte is normally conferred only on candidates who are ready
to embrace celibacy freely and who publicly manifest their intention of
staying celibate for the love of God's kingdom and the service of men.
It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders
in the three degrees.
[Adapted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.]
Annointing of the Sick
This sacrament is usually celebrated in private
when a parishioner is gravely ill. The family is urged to participate. The
service may be held at home, in the hospital or at church. On occasion,
the sacrament is offered before or after a regularly scheduled mass so that
anyone in the parish may easily have access to this source of grace and
healing.
RCIA
Welcome to Christ the King parish and to Inquiry.
Inquiry may be similar to what you might have
experienced in Sunday School in that it is a type of bible study. We meet
every Sunday, 9:45 AM in the Parish Center. There we talk about whatever
we wish, but mostly we explore the great Bible stories and see how we can
connect them to our own life situations - what can we learn from these themes
that can help us? The group will vary, but is typically made up of Catholics
and non-Catholics who are looking for a way to grow spiritually. We literally
accept the promise of Christ where two or more are gathered in my name,
I AM with you. We close at 10:55 AM.
We have also formed Inquiry to be the first step
in the four-step process of becoming a Roman Catholic. You are welcome to
be with us for as long as you wish. At some point you may feel a tug from
the Spirit to move on toward embracing the Catholic method of practicing
Christianity. We celebrate this decision liturgically with the Rite of
Welcome at a Sunday Mass when the Christ the King community has the opportunity
of welcoming you as a member of our spiritual family. You are a member of
the Church at this point, just not yet in full communion. You would then
continue your journey thru the other steps.
Should you decide to embrace the Catholic Faith,
you will move thru the steps at your own speed. We, your supporting team,
are in no hurry, and we hope you're not. Most find the journey to be a rich
and growing experience, and best when savored slowly. The decision to move
on from one period to the next is a joint decision between you and the more
intimate members of the team. The most beautifully inspiring time to join
us in full communion is at the liturgy of the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday
thru Holy Saturday). This practice is centuries old, reaching back to the
early Christian church. There is something mystical about sharing in this
tradition.
We congratulate you on taking this step to explore
your own spirituality. Many people never find the courage to do so. Please
ask questions! It is not our job to anticipate the questions, but to help
you find the answers.
For more information on the Rite of Christian Initiation
For Adults (RCIA) please contact Deacon Bob True at 292-2884, ext.307.
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