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Dear Parents and Guardians,
It’s time to register for Religious Education for 2023-24! - We are looking forward to an exciting year of faith formation. What a gift we give to children and teens of this wonderful parish, the gift of faith! I am truly blessed to have committed families that see the importance of this faith in young lives! God bless all of you in your work in passing on the faith of our Catholic Tradition.
- Formation (Religious Education) Sessions are held on Saturday at Our Lady of the Ridge - See Saturday Sessions Calendar (PDF)
- We are still seeking catechists for Saturday morning sessions! We are also seeking a hall monitor to assist during the class time. Please contact the RE Office if interested. Volunteers are always needed!
- See the information for First Reconciliation / First Eucharist. Confirmation info will be provided in our mailing in August. Key dates for parent meetings:
- Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - Confirmation Meeting for parents and candidates at 6:30 PM at St. Linus Church
- Tuesday, October 10 - Deadline for Late Registrations
- Religious Education is an investment in the faith life of children and families. Good stewardship is the key to the quality of catechesis we offer our parishioners here at St. Linus. If all of us, myself included, does our best in budgeting, paying bills, paying tuition and fees, the cost of the investment could certainly be contested. Unfortunately, some do not practice this stewardship, and have strained the budgeting affects, especially when unpaid tuition and fees are not responsibly taken into account. Hence, we all are subject to these situations, and increases must be distributed. We highly encourage that families make their commitment early so to not be hit with additional late fees - An “early payment incentive” will be given to those who pay entire tuition by August 31 - Please see the financial form below.
2023-2024 REGISTRATION PACKETS
TUITION AND OTHER FEES
In an effort to keep our tuition and fees within the reach of our parishioners while at the same time providing the opportunity for parents / guardians to cover a fair share of the cost of the Religious Education Program you will notice that we have listed ALL costs for the various sacramental programs, as well as the fee for the children’s Bibles IF NEEDED - The bible used in the Religious Education Program is the Catholic Youth Bible, New American Bible translation, Revised Edition.
There is a financial commitment for EACH family. Please complete and return them with your registration forms. You’ll notice that we ask for the grade your child will be in September 2023 not your child’s present grade level.
TUITION ASSISTANCE... SCIP
We have a way to earn tuition credits. The program is SCIP (Shopping Certificate Incentive Program). If you aren’t familiar with this program please ask about it. We have several families who have free or almost free tuition this year because they have faithfully used SCIP for the past twelve months! We congratulate them and hope others will get involved. Please utilize this user friendly fund raiser to keep our budget in check! How can you not participate in this win/win opportunity!
NEW STUDENTS
Parents / guardians of all new students must present a copy of their child's Baptismal certificate along with the registration. This includes children baptized at OLOR - Saint Linus.
SACRAMENTS IN SECOND AND EIGHTH GRADE
At OLOR / Saint Linus both First Reconciliation and First Eucharist are celebrated in the second grade. First Reconciliation is usually in December and First Eucharist in May so that families have time to prepare their children for these sacraments. Confirmation is celebrated in eighth grade.
CONFIRMATION PROGRAM... The Confirmation preparation is now two years. Students who have skipped Religious Education and have not attended classes prior to 7th grade will be registered in “Year 1” and will need to remain registered in the 8th grade year, “Year 2” in order to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Tuition and fees must be paid for each year the student is enrolled. Meeting for Confirmation with be Tuesday, September 19 at 6:30 PM in St. Linus Church. A reminder mailing will be sent.
INDIVIDUAL STUDENT REGISTRATION AND MEDICAL FORMS
You will notice that there is a separate registration and medical form for multiple children in the household. We comply with the provisions of the Buckley Amendment for the safety and well-being of your children as well as because of Archdiocesan policy. We MUST have current and accurate information on file in case of an emergency. Medical forms are only good for one year and needs to be filled out on an annual basis.
DEADLINES FOR RETURNING REGISTRATION FORMS AND MONIES
We have set August 31 - as the deadline for returning registration forms and monies. There is a substantial raise in tuition after August 31, 2023 so you are strongly encouraged to register as soon as possible - NO REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER OCTOCBER 10, 2023 - Return the completed forms either by mail or by
emailing to our email address religioused@stlinusschool.org - You might want to pay online via GiveCentral by CLICKING HERE.
In advance, I thank you for registering early. I am looking forward to another year of faith formation here at Our Lady of Ridge - St. Linus. It is a pleasure and privilege to work with you and your children.
I am very excited in the future of Faith Formation this coming year! We will have additional notices soon. Please register with us as soon as possible so we can schedule classes and provide catechists for each grade level. If you have any questions, please be free to call us at 708-422-2400 ext 139.
May God provide us with peace and joy all year long!
Mrs. Nora Hunt
Coordinator of Religious Education'
Ms. Barbara Zickterman
Coordinator of Religious Education |
