St. Elizabeth Church

The 2023-2024 Christian Formation Early Registration for grades PreK through Confirmation is now available for any new families that are interested in joining our program and all those who are returning and have completed all necessary pre-requisites. 
If you are looking to register for next year or want to find out more, please reach out to Mrs. Stephanie Dorsey (sdorsey@stelizabethchurchmd.org).

Children in grades PreK through Confirmation (8th or 9th grade), who do not currently attend Catholic school, are invited to participate in our Christian Formation Program. Classes are held approximately two Sunday mornings each month from mid-September through early May. Each session begins at 10:20am (students should arrive in class by 10:15!) and ends at 11:40am. Optional family activities – some of which occur directly after class and some of which take place on days other than Sunday – are interspersed throughout the year.  To supplement the in-person classes, we have adopted a hybrid-family catechesis model, with one class each month taking place at home as a family, the details of which can be found in the calendar and information below.
 
Parish faith formation programs work with parents to nourish and build upon the life of faith lived at home. In the Archdiocese of Washington, the framework for formal catechesis is found in the Archdiocesan curriculum Forming Disciples for the New Evangelization. This curriculum presents the key elements of Catholic life using six standards, or areas of learning – knowledge of the faith (creed and scripture), liturgy and sacraments, morality, prayer, life in the Christian community, and evangelization/apostolic life. For a summary of what students are asked to grasp at each grade level, see the parent guides found on the Archdiocesan website:  https://adw.org/learning-the-faith/faith-formation/parish-faith-formation/.
 
The St. Elizabeth Christian Formation Program uses textbooks published by Our Sunday Visitor, Loyola Press and Ascension Press – all three which promote a deeper knowledge of the Catholic faith and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The proposed Christian Formation 2023-2024 Calendar/Schedule can be found below!