Religious Education Classes on Wednesdays

Grades Pre-k to 8th grade classes will start at 5:30 -- 6:30 at St. Mary School

Confirmation I & II classes will be 6:30 p.m. -- 7:30 p.m. and will be held at St. Mary Youth Center.
 Welcome to the St. Mary Catholic Church’s catechetical program. The purpose of this program is to follow Christ’s call “to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world and to hand his message on to successive generations by professing, living and celebrating the faith…” (National Directory for Catechesis #15). In our parish, the pastor, working with parents and those in catechetical ministry, plans and carries out this catechetical mission. In the National Directory for Catechesis, the U.S. Bishops remind us that it is in the parish that the faithful are “energized to carry out Christ’s mission.” It is here that the “spiritual, moral and material support for the regular and continuing catechetical development of the parishioners” is provided. (NDC, #60). 
St. Mary catechetical program begins in the month of August and is conducted on Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. begin by gathering at St, Mary Catholic School for prayer and announcements. The children are then dismissed to their classes. Parents of religious education children are highly encouraged to attend all adult faith formation sessions. Your attendance and participation are a sign of partnership with the Religious Education Program in promoting faith development and formation as the primary educators of your children. This program also includes children who are preparing to receive their first sacrament of confession and the First Communion. The Holy Communion programs last for two years. 
Thank you for your support and cooperation, and we look forward to working together with you. It is in working together that we are the Body of Christ and carry out His mission. 
Parents are welcome to register their children at the start of the catechetical year which begins in August. For more information, please contact our Director Religious Education: Jackie Spears: (409) 886 0841

The Sacrament of Confirmation (Youth Ministry)
The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed (CCC). 
Confirmation is the second sacrament of Christian initiation. It is called Confirmation because it confirms and strengthens baptismal grace. It is conferred by "the anointing with Sacred Chrism (oil mixed with balsam and consecrated by the bishop), which is done by the laying on of the hand of the minister who pronounces the sacramental words proper to the rite. 
These words refer to a gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the recipient as with a seal. Through the sacrament the grace given in baptism is "strengthened and deepened." Like baptism, confirmation also received only once, and the recipient must be in a state of grace (meaning free from any known unconfessed mortal sin) in order to receive its effects. 

The preparation to this sacrament is usually done by the youth ministry on Wednesdays. All young adult who would like to receive this sacrament may contact our Youth Director Patricia Daleo: (409) 883 2883 ext. 5 or our Director Religious Education: Jackie Spears: (409) 886 0841 

Adult Bible Study 
The Holy Bible contains the word of God which is a lamp to our feet, "Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Jesus himself" (St. Jerome). In order to understand Jesus, the eternal word who incarnated in the human flesh and love him, we are called to learn more about him through our scripture reading and studies. The more we know him the more we love him, the more we love him the more we want to know him and faith that we profess and proclaim. 
St. Mary Adult Bible study group gathers every Mondays at 6:00pm to 7:00 pm at St. Mary Youth Center. For more information, please call Patricia Daleo: (409) 883 2883 ext. 5