Christian Formation for Youth

Letter to parents - September 2021

Pick Up Permission form for all K-8 students

Dismissal Procedure

FlockNote is the text message option that we use here at St. Andrew’s.  It’s a great way to get information about Christian Formation, Youth Ministry, or general parish information. Once signed up, you can customize your preferences with what you want to receive.

Would you like to receive important updates on news and events about St. Andrew's via text message? Use the sign up link above, or text this word StAndrewRoanoke to the number 84576. Once you text the number, you will get a reply prompting you to create a FlockNote account (simple process, just use your email and create a password). Updates will generally be once per week unless there is urgent information. 

2021-22 CALENDAR available now!

Use these addresses to link to our Christian Formation calendar:

ICAL (for IPhone or MAC users) https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/o6hc06ncvul5u8chmr5sjmic0o@group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

HTML (For Google users) https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=o6hc06ncvul5u8chmr5sjmic0o@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

Parents:  Please use the following links to access the Parent Pages and
Grade Level Curriculum from the Diocese of Richmond.

Christian Formation Handbook (link coming soon...)

Partnering with Families  –  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, (# 2223 - 26) parents are the primary educators of their children in the faith. We believe that by sending young people to St. Andrew’s Sunday morning Christian Formation program, families are entering into a partnership with us.   When you sign your child up for sports, you make a commitment to the coach to do whatever it takes for your child to develop and grow.  You are making a similar commitment when you send your child to religious instruction in the Parish.
 
As St. Andrew’s catechists, we promise to:

• Instruct your child in their Catholic Christian faith.
• Provide the best instructional and formational experience we can.
• Pray with your children, and for your children.
• Encourage participation in the sacraments.
• Promote the faith community of St. Andrew’s and positive ways to contribute to it.
• Share information with families that will benefit their child’s faith formation.
• Provide a safe environment for all children.
• Take good care of your child.

 
As parents, you promise to:

• Raise your children in a Catholic home, where faith is lived and God is loved.
• Help your children practice their faith at home, especially the practice of prayer and worship.
• Have your child attend and involve themselves fully in Sunday Mass.
• Have your child participate in the sacraments.
• Promote the faith community of St. Andrew’s and positive ways to contribute to it.
• Support the catechetical programs at St. Andrew’s.
• Encourage good attendance by bringing your child to class every Sunday.

Parish faith formation and youth ministry programming will follow the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools
guidance tailored after the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Virginia Department of Health (VDH)
and the Governor’s public health order for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools.

Governor Northam instituted a public health order for the state of Virginia on August 12, 2021 that MANDATES all K-12 schools enforce the wearing of masks by ages 2 and up during indoor,
educational settings, regardless of vaccination status. Therefore, when a parish utilizes any indoor
portion of a school building for religious education or youth ministry, the public health order
must also be followed and masks must be worn.

Our dismissal procedure at 11:15 am:

• In an effort to try and cut down on the congestion inside RCS lower school at dismissal time, we have adopted the following procedure:
• Grades 4 – 8 will be dismissed from the main entrance of Roanoke Catholic School (where the flagpole is).  The children will come down the sidewalk toward the lower school, and that’s where they will meet up with their families.  (This is not much different from our prior dismissal procedure. Previously, those students did not require a parent to pick them up at the door of their classroom, and were dismissed from Door 21.)  We are just using a different door, to cut down on congestion inside the lower school lobby.
• Grades K-3 will be dismissed from Door 21 by groups.  We will announce what class is coming out.  Parents/family members can then step forward and claim their child.  Rest assured that we will not just let those children loose outside.  A catechist or aide will stay with them until they see you get them.  Children not picked up by 11:25 am will go back inside the building and wait with me in Room 101.
• We want to make sure that all of our Christian Formation students are kept safe, but we also want to consider social distancing inside the lower school lobby.
• Thank you for assisting us with this new procedure!