Christ Child Society - Baby Bottle
January 21 and 22 after Mass the Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne will be distributing empty baby bottles to fill to help fund their many ministries in the local area. CCSFW is an all volunteer 501(c)3 organization dedicated to serving at-risk children in our community.
Your filled baby bottle will allow CCSFW to continue its mission to break the cycle of poverty. Please drop your spare change into your baby bottle each evening and watch it fill knowing that you are helping to teach, motivate, and care for children in ways that best respond to the unique needs of our community.
First Holy Communion Announcement
At Sacred Heart, we have customarily had First Communion on the Sunday after Corpus Christi, when the external solemnity is celebrated. Canon law presumes that "It is primarily the duty of parents and those who take their place... to ensure that children who have reached the use of reason are properly prepared, and having made their sacramental confession, are nourished by this divine food as soon as possible." (can. 914) The place of the parish priest is secondary in this process, and serves more to prevent those from approaching for Holy Communion who are manifestly indisposed. St. Pius X in his decree "Quam Singulari" states:
"A full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine is not necessary either for First Confession or for First Communion. Afterwards, however, the child will be obliged to learn gradually the entire Catechism according to his ability."
"The knowledge of religion which is required in a child in order to be properly prepared to receive First Communion is such that he will understand according to his capacity those Mysteries of faith which are necessary as a means of salvation (necessitate medii) and that he can distinguish between the Bread of the Eucharist and ordinary, material bread, and thus he may receive Holy Communion with a devotion becoming his years."
And what are these mysteries of faith? The Catholic Encyclopedia under the heading "Sanctifying Grace" states:
In answer to the theological question: How many truths of faith must one expressly (fide explicita) believe under command (necessitate praecepti)? theologians say that an ordinary Catholic must expressly know and believe the most important dogmas and the truths of the moral law, for instance, the Apostles' Creed, the Decalogue, the six precepts of the Church, the Seven Sacraments, the Our Father. Greater things are, of course, expected from the educated, especially from catechists, confessors, preachers wherefore upon these the study of theology rests as an obligation. If the question be put: In how many truths as a means (necessitate medii) must one believe to be saved? many catechists answer Six things: God's existence; an eternal reward; the Trinity; the Incarnation; the immortality of the soul; the necessity of Grace. But according to St. Paul (Hebrews 11:6) we can only be certain of the necessity of the first two dogmas, while the belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation could not of course be exacted from ante-Christian Judaism or from Paganism. Then, too, belief in the Trinity may be implicitly included in the dogma of God's existence, and belief in the Incarnation in the dogma of the Divine providence, just as the immortality of the soul is implicitly included in the dogma of an eternal reward. However, there arises for any one baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and
entering thus the Church of Christ, the necessity of making an act of explicit faith (fides explicita).
Thus, it is expected that parents can adequately prepare their children for First Holy Communion, teaching them their basic prayers, the rosary, how to go to confession, etc. Parents with children who wish to make their First Communion this year are asked to inform the pastor, who will arrange for a short meeting with the child to ensure proper disposition and the requisite knowledge (including the ability to make a sacramental confession, which must precede First Communion). Highly recommended as a teaching aid is the classic "St. Joseph First Communion Catechism" available at any Catholic book shop.
| Confirmation
We are planning to have the Sacrament of Confirmation late in 2017 or early 2018, though a date has not yet been decided. Since we are potentially planning a joint ceremony with St. Stanislaus in South Bend (which location yet to be determined), we need a preliminary head count. The "preferred" age in this diocese for candidates for Confirmation is 13 or 14, but the US Bishops' Conference places the age starting at the age of reason and being postponed no later than the 16th year of age. A more mature understanding of the faith and the Christian life is required, but always proportional to one's chronological age. Some children, being more precocious than others, might be well prepared at a very young age, and are encouraged to receive the sacrament earlier than the preferred age, which is after all merely a preference not a precept. Those desiring to receive the sacrament of Confirmation are asked to contact the pastor or the church office as soon as possible. There will be a catechism class conducted based on Fr. Connell's Confraternity Edition of the Baltimore Catechism #3 and the booklet "Preparation for Confirmation" by Angelus Press, both of which will be provided by the parish. Scrip Please take a look at the order forms at the front entrance to see if there are places that you frequent. If so, just fill in the amount you would like to purchase. The form will let you know the percentage the Parish receives from your Scrip purchase. Please submit the form with a check by dropping it in the collection basket. For any questions please call Kim at the office 260-744-2519. All orders must be prepaid and will be placed on Tuesday of each week. Your orders in the form of gift cards will then come to the office and you will be called (please leave a phone number) when they arrive to pick them up at the office or at church the following Sunday. Due to processing costs, in order to make a few dollars we have to put in an order of $300 or more. Consequently, if we do not get enough people using Scrip we may not be able to order every week.
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