FAITH FORMATION

SACRAMENTS

Sacred Heart Parish offers flexible preparation in First Penance, First Eucharist, Confirmation, and OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults).

Second graders and their families will be invited to prepare together for the Sacrament of First Penance and First Eucharist through unique materials and special sessions throughout the year. Our flexible programming allows us to make adjustments for students who may have missed the second-grade cycle.

The Sacrament of Confirmation age has changed in the Archdiocese of Boston from the 10th grade to the 8th grade. We are also responsive to the needs of adults seeking the Sacrament of Confirmation. We tailor our Confirmation preparation to accommodate the needs of individual students wherever they are in the preparatory process.

OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults)

Are you interested in becoming a Catholic or learning more about the Catholic faith? Please contact our office at office@sacredheart-lexington.org or SHFaith21@gmail.com for more information.

Curriculum and Approach for Children’s Classes

Sacred Heart will continue to use the popular Pflaum Gospel Weeklies, which focus on Sunday’s readings and specific topics of Catholic doctrine. Rather than treating morality as a static set of rules, the curriculum’s liturgical catechesis utilizes the "Life in Christ" pillar of the Catechism to adapt moral lessons to what a child is developmentally capable of understanding.

Our approach builds on Pflaum’s developmental framework, with particular attention to children’s moral development at each of its five educational levels:

Developmental Framework Across Tiers

• Seeds (Preschool, Ages 3–4): Egocentric Morality
  Children at this stage are highly egocentric and struggle to see perspectives outside their own. The program focuses on foundational, concrete concepts of goodness, sharing, and experiencing God's love directly through family and immediate environments.

• Promise (Grades K–1): Concrete Right vs. Wrong
  Thinking at this stage is literal and highly humanized. Moral lessons use simple, real-world rules and black-and-white concepts of fairness to help children understand obedience, kindness, and how to practice basic prayers.

• Good News (Grades 2–3): Experiential Morality
  Coinciding with preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, children learn moral responsibility by doing. They explore concepts like sin, forgiveness, and cooperation through tactile experiences—such as acting out stories, role-playing, and drawing.

• Venture (Grades 4–6): Empathy, Fairness, and Logic
  In these middle grades, children transition into more sophisticated moral reasoning. The lessons challenge them to solve moral problems using both logic and emotional empathy. They begin altering their own actions out of genuine concern for how others feel.

• Visions (Grades 7–9): Abstract Logic & Social Justice
  Adolescents begin outgrowing literal, childhood understandings of religion. The curriculum shifts to accommodate their abstract cognitive development, heavily emphasizing moral reasoning, structural social justice, and hands-on service as expressions of faith.

Our Gospel Weekly program highlights Scripture. To support understanding of the Bible, a large banner of the Great Adventure Bible Timeline is mounted on the wall outside our classrooms. This is a wonderful visual of the story of salvation history for students, parents, and teachers.

Catechists also have materials from the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. These materials are based on the Montessori approach to presenting complex ideas in a child-centered, discovery-based, and hands-on manner, tailored to the child's developmental age.  CGS materials are available in our preschool room and are used by catechists in all grade levels.

Our regular programs will also be supplemented with appropriate experiential activities exploring the church, gardens and adjacent conservation areas. Service opportunities in the parish, as well as the larger community, will be offered to provide hands-on experience in Caring for Our Common Home.

This year every family will also be provided with a copy of the Family Companion for use throughout the liturgical year. It connects the Sunday Scriptures and Catholic teaching with family life through readings and activities.

The Preschool room is set up for children to use with their parents’ supervision.

For more information: Contact Debbie Cunha at SHFaith21@gmail.com.