The Catholic Church holds up parents as the primary educators of their children, especially when it comes to formation in the Faith. However, many parents often feel ill-equipped to form their children in the Faith. This could be due to many reasons: lack of time; tension in the parent-child relationship; a sense of inadequacy due to lack of knowledge or sinfulness; and many more.As their primary catechists, we want to empower parents to lead their teens closer to Christ and deeper into His Catholic Church. Parent-led formation the foundation of immediate preparation helps bridge those gaps and provides an environment for parents to discuss the Catholic Faith with their candidate.

During their immediate preparation, candidates will work through the Decision Point curriculum from Dynamic Catholic. This engaging, video-based study aims to prepare young people not only for Confirmation, but to be the best-versions-of-themselves each and every day of their life.

Each family will receive a student workbook and a leader guide to use as they journey through the curriculum. Decision Point videos are all available for free online, and are therefore accessible 24/7. Sets of DVDs are also available through the parish for families who desire them.

Candidates and parents have the freedom to work through the Decision Point curriculum at a pace that suits them. However, there will be two checkpoints throughout the year to ensure that all candidates are moving through at a normal pace (and do not binge-watch the entire program in one sitting to get it done!). One checkpoint will take place in the Fall of 9th grade, and other checkpoint in the Spring of 9th grade.

Parent Workshops

To help equip parents to lead their teen through this curriculum, a series of parent workshops will be offered each month, focused on each lesson of Decision Point. Each parent will be expected to attend an orientation to the program in the Spring of 8th grade (after the registration deadline for Confirmation) in order to learn the ins and outs of the curriculum and learn strategies to convey its content to their teen. After a short time in which to being the curriculum with their teens, parents will be expected to attend one follow-up workshop to recap and reflect on the experience with other parents. Finally, monthly workshops focusing on individual lessons in the Decision Point program will be offered for any parents who wish to receive added knowledge, extra support, and shared conversation about the topics with each other.