First Reconciliation and First Communion

Sacrament Parent Meeting: You can find the notes from our meetings in October at this link.
– First Reconciliation and First Communion Schedule: Our Sacramental schedule was sent our via email to all parents in the fall of 2024; if you have misplaced or did not receive that email, please contact us at rem@stjoans.org. Please note that we do not post our Sacrament schedules publicly. **All scheduling requests are due by March 15th, as communicated in our meeting in October. Scheduling changes, outside of serious extenuating circumstances, cannot be made after this point.

First Communion Application: The First Communion Application is due March 1, 2025, and can be found at this link. *If emailing the application, please do not send in jpg or png format. Emailed applications must be sent in PDF format only.
First Communion Banner: Communion banner kits will be distributed in late winter or early spring; we will let you know when we are distributing them.

First Reconciliation Guide for Parents: You can find this guide here, which includes information about children’s readiness to make the Sacrament
Sacrament Retreats: Our First Reconciliation retreat will be held on the morning of Saturday, February 8th from 9:30 am – 11:00 am, and our First Communion retreat will be held on the morning of Saturday, March 22nd, from 9:30 am – 11:00 am. *Please be sure to add these dates to your calendar, as the retreats will be an important aspect of your child’s Sacramental preparation.* We will also need volunteers for both retreats! If you can help out, please fill out the forms here:
- First Reconciliation Retreat Volunteer Sign-Up
- First Communion Retreat Volunteer Sign-Up

*Ordering an Apostolic Blessing Parchment – This is a special blessing parchment that you can request from the Holy Father for your child on the occasion of his or her First Communion; you can find the link to request this here. *Please note that we are just linking this as an “FYI” for anyone interested in ordering one.*

Resources:

First Reconciliation

– Father JM’s video on How to Go to Reconciliation

– The steps for going to Reconciliation (slides)

First Communion

– Father JM’s video on How to Receive Communion

– Steps to Going to Communion
– Requesting a Blessing from Pope Francis for Your Child for First Communion – Click here for the Vatican page with details/form for requesting the

Some helpful resources for parents/adults

– 5 Ways to Prepare Your Child for First Reconciliation, Article

– Steps to going to Confession (if you need a refresher!)

– Why confess my sins to a priest? Video with Father Mike Schmitz

– Going to Confession for the first time in a long time – Video with Father Mike Schmitz

– Why does the Mass matter anyway? Article from BustedHalo.com