St. John Bosco Parish

Saint John Bosco Faith Formation 2025-2026

"God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever."
-St. Ignatius of Loyola

Our parish Faith Formation program seeks to help children and their families know God and His church in order to better love and serve Him and others in their lives. Through regular participation in the celebration of the Mass and sacraments, classes, youth ministry events, family activities, and service projects, we hope our students not only learn about their faith but about how to live out their faith in meaningful and beautiful ways.

Family Centered

Your family is the center of our program and your child's faith formation. Our goal is to support you as the first and foremost catechist of your child with engaging materials and clear objectives. We embrace the idea of life-long formation and acknowledge that we are always learning and growing in our faith regardless of age. There will be opportunities for families to learn, share, discuss, and serve together with other families in our parish community. This model is an exciting direction that parishes around the diocese and country are finding meaningful and impactful.

Mass Centered

All of our sessions focus on the Mass, as it our greatest prayer and the center of all we are as Catholics. Children in grades k-8 will attend one of the Family Masses (first weekend of every month), all of which will offer a Children's liturgy of the word (K-4), Teen Bible Chat (gr 5-8) and a Faith Formation Session on generally the 3rd Sunday of every month that includes attendance at the 9am Sunday Mass (or another of their choice with a submitted Mass slip). Our printed materials also teach and apply the lessons of the sunday gospels. 

Service Centered

The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy are the ways through which we are asked to serve God and love one another. We join our students and their families in seeking those in need around us and ministering to them in any way our faith teaches us to. We Support a chosen charity each month and include service activities inside and outside of our faith formation sessions. By our Confirmation Program, students are fostering service-minded hearts by logging 2 hours of service a month throughout the year in our parish, their schools, and the community.

Opportunities for service are updated regularly at https://www.saintjohnboscobranford.org/service-opportunities and on Google Classroom.

Youth Ministry

Our parish Youth Ministry Program is an important partner to our Faith Formation Program – allowing our students the opportunities to grow in their faith, explore specific questions and interests, find support and prayer in difficult times, and enjoy a sense of community with other parish teens. See https://www.saintjohnboscobranford.org/youthministry for all youth ministry offers. Contact Kim Reinwald with any questions or just to drop by to chat (203-488-1607, ext. 120 or youth@saintjohnboscobranford.org).

Jenny Smith, Faith Formation Coordinator
faithformation@saintjohnboscobranford.org
203-488-2998, ext. 202

Regina Martindale, Faith Formation Office Admin
rmartindale@saintjohnboscobranford.org
203-488-2998, ext. 201

Families with children in Grades K-8 will attend two sessions a month together:

Any one of the 4 Family Masses on the first weekend of every month. All of those masses will offer a separate Children's Liturgy of the Word + craft (for children K-gr 4)
during part of the Mass in the hall and a 15-min Teen Bible Chat (gr 5-8) immediately following Masses during“Coffee and” to make sense
of the readings and homily and apply them to their lives. Catechists and Peer Leader teens will lead these sessions. 

Family Mass Times (1^st weekend every month):
Saturdays, 4:30pm St Therese
Sundays, 7:30am St Mary
Sundays, 9am St Therese
Sundays, 10:30am St Mary

A 2.5-hour Faith Formation session on generally every 3rd Sunday of each month ( at St. Therese, including both Mass and related class session. Families will have the
flexibility to choose to attend any of the three sessions that best fit their schedule month to month. Attendance will reflect class and Mass. 

At least one parent/guardian/adult must attend with their child(ren), which can include a grandparent, aunt/uncle, Godparent, sibling above 18, etc. There will be opportunities for families to learn, share, discuss, grow, and serve together with other families in our parish community. During a portion of the session, children gather by grade with their individual catechists while parents gather separately. Babysitting is available for younger children upon request – both at Mass and during sessions.

 Families will register for one of the following sessions:

Session A: St. Therese, Sundays 7:30-10:00 AM (9:00AM Mass included)
Session B: St. Therese, Sundays 9:00-11:30 AM (9:00AM Mass included)
Session C: St. Therese, Sundays 4-5:30pm (Mass slip will be submitted from
attendance at any weekend Mass in or outside of our parish) 

Make-up classes are offered on Tuesday evenings following the monthly Sunday sessions
from 5:00-6:30 PM at St. Therese, with a Mass slip from one of the weekend Masses.

First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion Preparation 

Preparation occurs for most students during their 3^rd grade year, but older children who have not received are welcome to prepare and receive the sacraments as well, as coordinated with Jenny Smith. Preparation takes place during our monthly sessions, as well as additional weekday classes preceding the sacrament. See calendar for dates and times.

Confirmation Preparation: NEW Grades 7+8

NOTE: The Archbishop has recently moved the age of Confirmation from Grade 10 to Grade 8, a move many archdiocese is making. This transition will impact kids in grades 7-10 over the next couple of years as we make this move. New this year: students in grades 7+8 in the fall of 2025 will enter Year 1 of Confirmation Preparation.

7^th+8^th graders will attend their regular monthly family faith formation sessions, as well as an additional evening class the first Sunday of every month to prepare for the sacrament of Confirmation. See Confirmation Commitments below for further details.

We’re always looking for adult volunteers!

Any parents, adults, or teens over 18 who would be interested in helping in the program (either planning or facilitating), we would love to have you! Please reach out to Jenny Smith at faithformation@saintjohnboscobranord.org and check out our volunteer page: Catechists & Adult Volunteers | St. John Bosco Parish

*Please note, children who are currently enrolled at East Shoreline Catholic Academy (ESCA) do NOT need to register for the parish Faith Formation program, even if they are making a sacrament here this year!

Confirmation Preparation

 "Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire." —St. Catherine of Siena

Our confirmation preparation aims at empowering students to love and live their faith, to avoid being Catholics in name only, and to step into the person God wants them to be. Classes are designed to inspire our teens to be courageous and intentional Catholics in today’s world by exploring questions, challenging assumptions, diving into prayer, and taking time to reflect. 

Classes meet the first Sunday every month for a 2.5 hour in-person lesson, including time for learning, fellowship, and devotion. The goal is to apply what they learn into the everyday practice of living out their Catholic faith. Service projects and participation in parish ministry throughout the year, as well as a service retreat and witness retreat, are key components of our Confirmation Program.

New Year 1  (Gr 7+8)
Sundays, St. Mary Church, 4:30pm-6pm

Traditional Year 1 (Gr 9)
Sundays, St Mary Church 4:30pm – 6:45pm

Year 2 (Generally Gr 10+)
Sundays, St. Mary Church, 6:15pm-8:15 PM

Please see Confirmation Requirements on the last pages of the Faith Formation Guidebook (link below)

*Note - Incoming Year 2 students for the 2025-2026 year will be admitted once they have submitted their Faith Checks, Sponsor Interviews, and Saint Paragraphs on Google Classroom before the first class.

FAITH FORMATION REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION FEE

The registration fee may be submitted by cash or check to the Faith Formation Office, or you may pay online at https://www.osvhub.com/saintjohnboscobranford/giving/funds/faith-formation. 

For Grades K-2, the fee is $100 per child
For Grades 4-8, the fee is $100 per child
For Grades 3, 9 & 10 (Sacrament Years), the fee is $125 per child

There is a $225 family maximum, and NO FEE for children of Catechists/Aides/Volunteers

If the fee presents legitimate hardship for your family, please write a brief letter to the Coordinator to request scholarship assistance and return to the Faith Formation Office.

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Our in-person classes are supplemented by Google Classroom where families can access additional resources, ministry/service opportunities, lesson make-up material, and regular communication with catechists and coordinators. Parish and Faith Formation Program news will also be posted regularly.

Google Meets will be reserved for weather cancellations or impromptu meetings and/or conferences. All other class sessions will be held in-person.

Note: Even if you are currently in Google Classroom for your school, you need to go through your account at our domain (@sjbfaithformation.com) in order to access our faith formation classroom)

Newly Registered Students: you will be emailed an invite with your new username and password during the month of September.

Returning Students: Follow the directions below to access/sign into your current Gmail account and SJB Faith Formation Google Classroom:

1. Go to google.com and sign in using your username and password (Your username is your full name, no punctuation @sjbfaithformation.com and your temporary password is sjbff2022)
2. You will sign in, accept terms of service, and create your own password. (please write this down and don’t forget it. Share it with your parents so they can access Classroom for information).
3. You can then join Google Classroom. Be sure you are in your new google account (check circle at top right for account ending in @sjbfaithformation.com) and click on “Classroom” from your list of apps (the square of dots beside the circle) or go to classroom.google.com.
4. Once in Classroom, you will be invited to join from Classroom and in a welcome email in your inbox.

If you have any issues signing it, please reach out to the administrator at  jennysmith@sjbfaithformation.com.

EVANGELUS TEXT/EMAIL SYSTEM

By registering for the program, you will automatically be enrolled in the Evangelus text message/email notification system through the parish (This is NOT SPAM). This is how we will get important Faith Formation & Youth Ministry updates and notifications to you! You can opt out at any time. 

If you would like to manually sign up, visit eva.us/johnbosco

St. John Bosco Parish Faith Formation Office

105 Leetes Island Rd, Branford, CT 06405

203-488-2998    |    faithformation@saintjohnboscobranford.org