The Family Circle Program

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Understanding the Family Circle Model
Dorothy Day tells a story of the first radio she had in the early 1920’s. A twelve-year-old boy created it for her out of a cigar box, a crystal, a bit of wire, an aerial, and earphones. Although she could not at all grasp how this little mechanism worked, she knew if she manipulated it properly she could hear a presidential address, a football game, and miracles of miracles, symphonic music. She called this little radio a “miracle box”, and thought if this is possible, anything is…… Faith came before understanding.
When working with our First Communion class we often survey the group and ask how many students bring their lunch to school. A good majority raise their hands and we follow with the question, “how many of you are afraid to open your lunch box for fear that a creepy, slimy, rotted object may be inside?”. They unanimously giggle and forcefully reply, “NEVER!”. Why is that? Because they know that their lunch was made by someone who loves them.
Faith is a gift from God, it is knowledge born of love. And who better to teach children that knowledge born of love then their parents. At OLQP, our family program of faith formation centers on this idea. We want our children to grow in faith by first knowing God, and then knowing about God.

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What is the Family Circle Program?
​The goal of our Family Circle Program is for our children to come to know God’s love, and respond to it by loving all who they encounter, including themselves. At OLQP we call this “Discipleship in Action”, which is the mission of our Parish, the mission of our program. We support, guide and celebrate our parents as they pass down their Catholic faith from one generation to the next. Welcome to the Family!

Family Circle Overview

• Register HERE 
• Parent training and safety information
• Create calendar and yearly plan
• 24 hours of scheduled faith gatherings to include instruction time, social time, and service time (home-based or group-based)
• 8 Foundations classes (monthly, October-May)
• 8 Family Masses (monthly, October-May)
• Discipleship Enrichment Activities (i.e.: Thanksgiving pie baking, river clean up, gleaning, etc.)
• 42 Sunday Children’s Liturgy of the Word gatherings per year (ages 4-10) 

Learn more about what's involved here!

Learn about the two Family Circle Options (Home-based and Group-based) here!