Welcome! Start Here

We are looking forward to another year of faith formation of the youth in our parishes.  We will begin the year with an all-parent and youth kick-off at 2:00 pm on September 13^th at St. Joseph’s Church (we will be done in time to get home for the Vikings/Packers kickoff at 3:25!). 

During the parents meeting you will hear about some changes to faith formation this year. The highlights of these changes include:

Encounter (1^st – 5^th grade parishioners and their parents).

• We will meet for 2 sessions per month at St. Francis de Sales. Parents and children will gather together for these sessions and then, as we did last year, there will be brief sessions at home between sessions at St. Francis.
• We will be using the A Family of Faith series to guide formation in the home. Parents will have a guide to use at home and each child will have an activity book.
  
  

Discipleship (middle school aged parishioners)

• This group will meet at St. Francis de Sales on Wednesdays from 6:00 – 7:15. The meetings will occur every week with some days off for holidays, etc.

Witness (high school aged parishioners)

• This group will meet at St. Joseph’s on Wednesdays from 6:00 – 7:15 and will follow a schedule similar to Discipleship.

First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion preparation

• This will begin in January. Families with a child in second grade or above who wish to receive these sacraments will be given more information later in the fall.

Confirmation

• You may have heard that the Diocese of Crookston will be moving towards offering confirmation to youth in the 8^th grade or older. To transition to this age, we will need a few years to work through the numbers in the higher grades. In the Spring of 2027, Confirmation will be open to any youth in 10^th or 11^th grade during the 2026-2027 academic year.  More information will be shared during the parent/youth kick off on September 13^th.