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Sacramental Preparation
First Reconciliation and First Communion

News and Announcements

Enrollment Open Now for 2026-2027

Enroll your family now to prepare for First Reconciliation and First Communion in the new year! Scroll down for more information on eligibility, program details for the upcoming year, and how to enroll.

Help Wanted!

Our children and families need the support of their whole parish community. We are looking for volunteers to help in a few ways:

• Catechists who can lead a short children's activity in the gym. Activites are already planned for you! Volunteers leading the children give adults a chance to speak with each other and learn at an adult level.
• An organizer who can take charge of the Prayer Partner ministry. Each year, we invite parishioners to pray for a child who is preparing to celebrate these Sacraments, and to leave them notes each week. Kids are excited to see what their prayer partner left for them, helping them to feel welcome in the community and to look forward to going to church. An organizer would keep an email list of partners, send ideas and calendar reminders (provided by Anne Thomas), and check in with participants who have not left or picked up a note in a few weeks. 

Eligibility for Preparation

How Do I Make Sure My Child Can Celebrate their First Communion?

All are welcome at Mass!
The BEST way you can begin to prepare your child to receive their First Communion is by bringing them to the celebration of communion every weekend at Mass. Whether you have always attended faithfully, or you experienced a disruption over the pandemic, or you have found it challenging to bring a young child to Mass - we are here for you! Whether your child is loud, or messy, or unfamiliar with what to do, or a prayeful and calm expert - we joyfully welcome the gift of your family's presence! 

If your child is entering in 1st grade in 2026-2027:
Find our Faith Formation enrollment online here. Children must participate in either Faith Formation or Catholic school the year BEFORE they prepare for First Reconciliation and First Communion. See the General Information section below for more information. Children in 1st grade in Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2026-2027 can prepare to celebrate these Sacraments in 2027-2028.

If your child is in 2nd grade or above in 2026-2027:
If your child was in Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2025-2026, then look for Sacramental Preparation to begin alongside their continuing participation in Faith Formation or Catholic school in fall 2026. If your child was not in Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2025-2026, please contact Anne Thomas directly at anne.thomas@dor.org about your family's needs. To enroll in Sacramental Preparation for the upcoming year, scroll down to Enroll Now to find directions to enroll.  Public school and home school families will be directed to enroll in Faith Formation for the upcoming year first, and then will be able to add Sacramental Preparation. Catholic school families can enroll directly in Sacramental Preparation. Sacramental Preparation, along with Faith Formation OR Catholic school, will be part of their journey in the 2026-2027 school year.

2026-2027 Program

Program Information
Our 2026-2027 program will begin in November with preparation for First Reconciliation. After celebrating First Reconciliation, we will begin preparation for First Communion. For each Sacrament, we alternate each week between gathered sessions for parents and children together at St. Rita Church, and home-based sessions for famillies to complete on their own time; then we end with a rehearsal and the celebration of the Sacrament. We also have limited space for a new, retreat-based preparation option. Anne Thomas and Elizabeth Kwiatkowski will follow up with more information about the two options in the fall. Regular worship at Mass is the most important part of readiness to celebrate the Sacraments.

Calendar
You can download our calendar here (TBA).

First Communion Dates
We celebrate First Communions at regular parish Masses during the Easter season. This allows you to bring all your loved ones together and celebrate alongside your parish family. We will go through a scheduling process this fall, after everyone has a chance to enroll. We understand that you may be inviting family members who need to make travel arrangements, or booking plans for a family celebration. Please be patient so that we can give a fair chance for all celebrating families to enroll. 

We celebrated this way for the first time in 2026. If this is a change for you from an earlier year, please see Fr. Tim's letter explaining the reasons for our new way of celebrating here. Please note that the letter is from his initial announcement and contains last year's celebration dates.

Be sure to check out the General Information below regarding your child's eligibility to begin Sacramental Preparation!

General Information

When can my child prepare for these Sacraments? Per diocesan policy, your child must meet all 3 of the requirements below in order to prepare for First Reconciliation and First Communion:

• Your child is in 2nd grade or above.
• Your child attended Faith Formation or Catholic school LAST YEAR (Grade 1 or above)
• Your child attends Faith Formation or Catholic school in THE CURRENT YEAR (Grade 2 above).

My child is entering 2nd grade in Fall 2026. Can my child prepare for these Sacraments in 2026-2027? Your child can enroll in Sacramental Preparation if they meet all 3 of the requirements below:

• Your child is entering 2nd grade or above in Fall 2026.
• Your child has attended Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2025-2026.
• Your child attends Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2026-2027.

We understand that it can bechallenging for families with young children to connect with Mass and Faith Formation. Please feel free to reach out to Anne Thomas about your child's eligibility to enroll in Sacrametnal Preparation in 2026-2027, even if you were unable to participate in Faith Formation due to any challenges you faced. 

My child is entering 1st grade in Fall 2026, how can we make sure we can prepare for these Sacraments when they are in 2nd grade? If you plan to celebrate these Sacraments with your child in 2nd grade, please make sure that you enroll them in Faith Formation or Catholic school in 2026-2027. You don't need to enroll them in Sacramenal Preparation yet! 

When will we celebrate these Sacraments? Per diocesan policy, First Reconciliation is celebrated  prior to First Communion. Sacramental Preparation begins in the fall. We will celebrate First Reconciliation in the winter, and First Communion in the Easter season. 

When will my child's First Communion celebration be scheduled? We will schedule First Communion celebrations alongside the whole community at regular parish Masses during the Easter season. We will schedule those Masses with families as soon as possible in the fall.  

Why does my child have to participate in Sacramental Preparation separately from Catholic school or Faith Formation? Why do we have to do both? Per diocesan policy, children must do both. Think of Faith Formation/Catholic school and Sacramental Preparation like Physical Education and after school sports teams. Faith Formation and Catholic school are foundational, like P.E. is foundational. Children grow in relationship with God and learn about the basics of our Catholic faith, like the way children in P.E. learn different ways to get active. Sacramental Preparation is specific, like sports teams are specific. At Sacramental Preparation, children learn about the signs and symbols of Communion and Reconciliation and get ready to celebrate these Sacraments, like the way children on sports teams drill skills and get ready for games. 

I'm just looking for First Communion for my child, not First Reconciliation. Can we do that? Per diocesan policy, children must prepare for First Reconciliation before they can celebrate First Communion. There is not a separate sign up for each individual Sacrament, but we are prepared to journey with your child according to their particular needs. Ideally, children will prepare for First Reconciliation and go to confession in the winter, and then continue on to prepare for their First Communion in the spring. Most of the time, the journey is smooth with a little worry before First Reconciliation, and a lot of joy around First Communion. Occasionally, scheduling conflicts or emotional readiness can lead parents to choose a slight delay (days or weeks) before their child goes to confession. This is a normal accommodation we make every year. Less frequently, a child who has prepared for First Reconciliation may still not feel ready for confession before it is time for their First Communion. We are happy to welcome them to continue through First Communion without delay, and to see them celebrate their First Reconciliation later when they do feel ready. If you have any remaining concerns about your child's developmental readiness to prepare for First Reconciliation, please contact Anne Thomas at anne.thomas@dor.org to discuss your family's particular needs.

Enrollment

•  STEP 1:
• Public school families, please visit https://www.saintritawebster.org/faithformationk7/ and register for Faith Formation first. The enrollment form will invite you to add Sacramental Preparation after Faith Formation. Home school and secular private school families should also enroll in Faith Formation first.
• St. Rita School families, you can fill out the online registration form here, or contact Anne Thomas at anne.thomas@dor.org to make an appointemnt to enroll over the phone.

• STEP 2: The fee for 2026-2027 is $65/family. You can submit payment by any of these methods:

  • Pay online by credit card here. 

  • Write a check payable to St. Rita Church and mail it to 1008 Maple Drive. (Please indicate Faith Formation in the memo.)

  • Bring an envelope with check or cash and your name and drop it in the mail slot in the parish office door,, or in the donation slot in the church at any Mass. (Please indicate Faith Formation in the memo.)

Contact

 If you have any questions, please contact Anne Thomas at anne.thomas@dor.org or (585) 671-1100.