The church teaches that parents are the ‘primary catechists’ of their children. Children will learn most about the faith from observing how their parents live out the faith at home, through daily prayers, family traditions and conversations about God and the faith. They will learn about the Church from attending Mass and community events at the parish.
The Catechism classes at St. John XXIII seek to supplement this learning in the home and at Mass. Our aim is to support you, the parents in your role as ’primary catechists’.
Therefore, we use a programme called ‘A Family of Faith’ for our Parish Catechesis.
This programme includes formation at church and at home each month.
At Church – Lesson 1
Most children will attend one Catechism class a month in the parish centre. After registration each family will be assigned to either Group 1 or Group 2. You will find the dates for your Catechism classes in this calendar.
Sacrament classes, Level 2 (First Reconciliation) and Level 3 (First Holy Communion) will have an additional class each month. These students should attend both their ‘Group’ class and the ‘Sacrament’ class.
*Due to space restrictions, there will be no Preschool or Prep classes this year (2021-22).*
During registration families can choose their preferred class time.
Before 10.00 Mass – starting at 9.00
Before 11.30 Mass – starting at 10.30
(The 10:30 classes often fill up quickly. Make sure to register early if this is your preferred time.)
At Home – Lesson 2
– Parents watch a short 10-15 min video about each month’s theme.
This will teach you what your child has learned in Lesson 1 at church that month and give you the knowledge you need to do Lesson 2 with your children at home.
– Parents choose an activity from the Parent’s Guide to do as a family each month
Most activities should not take longer than 10-15 minutes.
Examples of activities:
- Reading a story about a saint before bed.
- Having a discussion in the car or on the tram about an aspect of our faith.
- Reading a scripture passage while children complete a coloring page.
- Doing a wordsearch, fill in the blanks or game in the Child’s Activity book.
Next year we will be implementing a new Catechesis Programme at the parish. We hope to be able to welcome back all the children in person. To facilitate this change and to have a better picture of what restrictions may still be in place in the Autumn we are delaying registration until mid-August.
Classes will begin at the start of October and run until the end of May.
Registration for all classes will be as usual through our online registration.
Registration is now ongoing till Monday September 20th.
Registration Fees are as follow for Sacramental Classes
-
- CHF 85 for one Child in the Catechism Programme
- CHF 160 for two Children in the Catechism Programme
- CHF 195 for three or more Children in the Catechism Programme
- CHF 160 (a one time fee) for the 2 year Confirmation Programme
Note: Confirmation fees is independent of Catechism fees.
View the Enrolment by age and level here.
The Catechism programme at St. John XXIII is completely volunteer led. We always need more volunteers to help teach and inspire the young people of our parish.
We need:
- Catechists
- Classroom assistants
- Confirmation small group leaders
- Event planners
- Fundraising coordinators
- Service project coordinators
- Musicians
If you would like to get involved in any way please email Anna at dre@johnxxiii.ch
For more information please read our Catechetical volunteer’s guide
“Our Director of Religious Education, Anna Berkeley was born and raised on a farm in Co. Meath in Ireland. She studied European Studies with French and Spanish in Trinity College Dublin before training as a primary school teacher in London. She taught for several years in the UK and Ireland before moving to the U.S.
There she studied for a Masters in Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. which led her to work for the Office of Youth Ministry in the Archdiocese of Washington.
In 2018 she moved to Geneva with her husband Matthew and baby son Finian. They are really enjoying life in Switzerland, and love exploring new places and going on hikes at the weekend.”
You can contact her at dre@johnxxiii.ch