*Please note that the High School Youth Ministry is run by Abalze Ministries who are housed at St. Louis in Waco, TX.  To contact Ablaze, please email youthministry@stlouis.com.

This year, our St. Philip high school students will have the opportunity to meet at St. Philip once a week for their formation classes.  Because Ablaze Ministries is in charge of the high school group, you will need to register your 9th-12th graders on the St. Louis website.  After you have done so, please email me at Amy@StPhilipCS.com so that I can list your student as a participant in the St. Philip group.

OUR GOALS FOR HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY

• To accompany teens as they continue growing in knowledge and love of God and His Church
• To hold conversations that explore the truth and beauty of our faith, and allow these youth to make applications that form how they live
• To help these youth see God's presence in their lives and power in the sacraments
• That these youth would have active prayer lives
• That these youth would encounter the Lord, and live as His disciples, joyfully living in the Spirit, as sons and daughters of the Father

Confirmation for High School Youth

• What is Confirmation? - Confirmation is the sacrament in which we receive the fullness of our baptismal graces and a new outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This sacrament also brings us fully into God's family, the Church. These graces enable us to live out our Catholic faith as sons and daughters of the Father. Confirmation is a beautiful beginning to full communion with God and helps us journey toward heaven and witness to the faith with our lives. 
• Who can be confirmed at St Louis? - The Diocese of Austin states that for a student to be eligible to receive the sacrament of Confirmation they should have reached the 10th grade and must have completed at least 2 consecutive years of faith formation, leading up to the year in which they are confirmed. To receive credit for the 2020 - 2021 year of faith formation, the student must have completed more than 70% of their weekly packets. To recieve credit for previous years, the student must have attended at least 70% of the weekly faith formation classes.

  If a student meets these requirements, they can then request to meet with the youth ministers and priests to determine their readiness to receive the sacrament. The meeting to determine the student's readiness for confirmation should take place in the school year they hope to be confirmed or as scheduled by the youth ministry office,  before specific confirmation preparation classes begin in the spring semester. 

What does Confirmation preparation include? -   Once a student is approved to enter into sacramental preparation for confirmation, their formation will consist of a weekend retreat, 4 hour and a half weekday sessions, a day retreat, and a rehersal. These classes will be in additon to the faith formation students are already participating in. This is to more deeply and intentionally enter into formation just before receiving the sacrament.  As with other sacramental preparation at the parish, parent involvement is a required part of formation. A parent will be expected to attend a confirmation parent meeting and the first weekday session with their student. A parent or sponsor is required to attend the day retreat and confirmation rehersal. 

This plan for Confirmation is for students who have already been baptized and received their First Communion. For more information about Confirmation for high school youth, email youthministry@stlouis.com or call the church office. 
 

Parent Involvement in Faith Formation 

•  All youth ministry and faith formation is meant to be an addition to the way the Catholic faith is already being taught and modeled within the home, because parents are the first and primary educators of the faith of their children. This obiligation flows from their own personal baptismal promises and the promises they made on their wedding day to bring their children up "according to the law of Christ and His Church." For this reason, parent participation at information meetings, especially during the years of sacramental preparation for first communion and confirmation, is required. As part of this formation, it is expected that students and damilies attend Mass every Sunday and participate in the sacramental and communal life of the Church. It is through entering into the Mass and living as a part of their Church family that your children will encoutner the true source of formation,  Our Lord Jesus Christ.
•  Parents are required to take part in their student formation and sacramental preparation by participating in classroom formation and at home. Families and students are required to attend Mass every Sunday at St Louis Church. Mass attendance will be monitored. Students who do not attend Mass on Sundays will not be able to move forward to the next level of instruction.