Dear Parents/Guardians,
I hope that you are doing well! As we enter into Holy Week, I wanted to let you know about a few updates to our Confirmation program.
Probably the most important consideration to make is that the forms approving a chosen individual to serve as a Confirmation Sponsor are now due. Our next meeting with candidates is on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 3:30pm and this meeting is with the Candidate and Confirmation Sponsor.
I need time to verify the approval forms prior to any individual serving as a Sponsor during the meeting on May 4. That verification process takes time. If your child's sponsor has not yet submitted an approval form, please assist in getting it to me as soon as possible.
Additional copies of the form be downloaded through the attachment below.
And as we approach Holy Week, I'd also like to revisit the requirement in our program to observe a Baptism and a Confirmation.
I'm still working on a list of other Confirmation Masses to attend at churches in the surrounding area, but one very specific way to fulfill this requirement is next week. The Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday (April 19) is a Mass that will have 8 Baptisms and 12 Confirmations at it and can fulfill both of these requirements at the same time. The Easter Vigil is the most beautiful Mass in Catholicism during our entire year, and yes, while it is longer than a usual Mass, witnessing and understanding the Mass is at the heart of Catholicism. I encourage you and your household to attend!
If your child is looking for a different date to attend a baptism, a new set of dates are now available and they can register for a date using the link below.
And finally, also important to Holy Week is a ceremony that is done at the beginning of the Holy Thursday Mass (April 17). The sacred oils that are used in the rituals of the Church, including the oil that will be used to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation to your child(ren) are presented to the parish (after being delivered from the bishop) on Holy Thursday.
I am looking for three Confirmation students to be the ones to be the ones to carry those oils and present them to the parish during the Mass. The sign up for this opportunity is in the purple box directly below my signature.
I hope you have a great weekend and I hope to see some of you at the Fish Fry tonight. If your child/candidate is volunteering at the event, yes... that is one of the ways to fulfill the service to the church discussed in our Faith in Action projects. They are more fully discussed below.
God bless!
David Heimann
Holy Thursday - April 17, 2025
This sign up is for individuals who will participate in one of the roles at the Holy Thursday Mass on April 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. Please come 10 minutes early to check in with David Heimann.
Participate in the Foot Washing
Carry the Sacred Oils
Assist with the Collection
- Faith In Action Projects
The expectation is for each Confirmation candidate to do one Faith In Action project in each of 3 categories -
- A - Care for the earth
- B - Service to those on the margins and
- C - Service to the church.
In each of the first two categories (A&B), I will provide an organized experience allowing students to do the project together. The first of these will be in May and in June, I will also organize similar opportunities in the Fall. A student does not need to go on all of the organized activities, just one from each category, or they can do an independent project in those areas so long as they coordinate it with me.
The third category, serving the church, can be done in a myriad of ways and is done independently. Altar serving, helping with Family Mass, volunteering at Wearin the Green, parish activities, etc. All of these qualify. I will make some specific opportunities available to you in subsequent emails. Below are opportunities to si gn up and participate in the organized projects for category A and category B.
Service Project from Category A
Cleaning a local Forest Preserve
Saturday May, 17, 2025 from 9:00 to 11:15am
Labagh Woods, West Foster Avenue, N. Cicero Ave, Chicago
During the time allotted, participants will help to clean up the Labagh Woods Forest Preserve for Cook County. Gloves and trash bags will be provided. Please dress for the weather and wear shoes that might get muddy as we collect trash near the banks of the waterways. Please arrange your own transportation. Parents are asked to volunteer with us if available. Only 25 volunteer slots are available.
Service Project from Category B
Feed My Starving Children - Schaumburg Location
Saturday, June 7, 2025 from 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Join with other volunteers to create food packs of protein and grains that will be shipped to parts of the world with urgent need for food relief. A single session of volunteering will create thousands of meals for those in need. Parent volunteers are also needed for this event to take place. Only 30 volunteer slots are available for this service project
- Fall Confirmation Retreat
In the requirements for Confirmation, we discussed earlier that there was a first year confirmation retreat and a second year retreat. We have just been able to book the NET Ministry team to be with us at Saint Andrew for the second Confirmation Retreat. It will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2025. We still haven't finalized the time, but it will likely start mid-morning and end at around 5:00pm. Thank you for saving the date in your child's calendar to avoid any conflicts.