We at St. Louis Church who catechize our children believe:
- Catechesis is a lifelong journey, undertaken in community and guided by the Spirit.
- The goal of catechesis is precisely this: to encourage a living, explicit, and fruitful profession of faith.
- The definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but also in communion and intimacy, with Jesus Christ.
- Communion with Christ leads to prayer with Christ. The sentiments with which Jesus prayed should permeate catechetical prayer: adoration, praise, thanksgiving, trust, supplication and awe.
- Conversion to Christ leads inevitably to walking in His footsteps. It leads to a profoundly moral life, based on the teachings of the Master found in the gospels and lived in the Church for centuries.
- Catechesis also prepares one to live in community and to participate actively in liturgy and in the life and mission of the Church.
- Children come to a fuller understanding of the sacramental dimension of our faith and life when they are encouraged to cultivate wonder and awe and to be open to the mystery of God’s presence through immersion in and exploration of word and image, picture and symbol and also our rituals.
- The family is the primary community in which faith is shared and nurtured. The whole Church community, beginning at our parish level, puts itself at the service of the family to form young Catholics. Formal religious education, here at St. Louis Church, is intended to support the family and the Church community in this mission.