Children prepare for and receive the Sacrament of First Reconciliation in the second grade as long as they have had one year of faith formation beforehand.  Our program consists of six preparatory lessons, a parent meeting, and a practice.  We use materials published by Pflaum Publishing Group.

In accordance with the requirements stated in the Directory for Catechesis our program is designed to help the children to prepare for the receipt of this sacrament in the following ways:

• Acknowledge God’s unconditional love for us;
• Turn to Christ and the Church for sacramental forgiveness and reconciliation;
• Recognize the presence of good and evil in the world and their capacity for both;
• Recognize their need for forgiveness, not only from their parents and others close to them, but from God;
• Explore the meaning of the symbols, gestures, prayers, and Scriptures of the Rite of Reconciliation;
• Understand how to celebrate the Rite of Reconciliation;
• Understand that sacramental Confession is a means offered children of the Church to obtain pardon for sin, and furthermore that it is even necessary per se if one has fallen into serious sin.