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Major changes announced for First Communion
Posted by SchoolDays Newshound on 01/10/2012.
Tags: Parenting Parenting KidsArchbishop Diarmuid Martin is set to announce changes to how children are prepared for First Communion in Dublin, with an announcement to be made later today (October 1st).
Under the proposals, there will be greater parental involvement, as the responsibility for preparing youngsters moves from schools to parents and the parish, the Irish Times reports.
Families will be expected to attend Sunday Masses more regularly during the preparatory year and it will be mandatory for a child's baptismal certificate to be produced by the previous September 30th.
The new policy will base First Communion and First Reconciliation in the parish and these will generally take place at Sunday Mass.
In a bid to curb excessive spending and private celebrations, parents will be encouraged to avoid extravagance and recognise that First Communion is a welcome to the parish liturgical community.
The revised First Communion and First Reconciliation diocesan policy document outlines an 11-step programme that must be followed and will be distributed to all schools and parishes in the Dublin archdiocese.
Written by Donal Walsh
Fiona
(10-10-2012 12:29)
Does this mean that finally the Communion preparation will be outside school hours? Its a disgrace how much time is spent preparing for a communion during class time. There are enough children struggling in school without wasting valuable education time that our children need. This should always be outside school hours, as should confirmation. Our schools are also more diverse with many children of various religions or no religion at all. What happens to these children when the teacher is spending her time devoted to the catholic children. Education should come first, if a child or a parent wants to make their communion nothing has to stop them. School is not the time or the place for this
Nuala Larkin
(21-09-2015 14:23)
I don't want my son to make his first communion, he is in a catholic school can you tell me is it compulsory.?
SchoolDays
(22-09-2015 09:12)
Hi Nuala
No it is not compulsory for your child to make his first communion in a catholic school. If you make your position known to the school they will usually either give you the option of removing your child from the school during preparation classes or alternatively assign your child other work to do during class while the other children are preparing.
DebMcMahon
(10-10-2012 13:56)
well if you attend an educate together or a VEC school -communion will be outside of school hours however if you attend a catholic school then communion will never totally be outside the school as it is part of the ethos of the school but what this means is that usually the catholic children will be taken outside of the school in 2nd class to do some of their instruction and the children who opt out will not have to go