Queen of Apostles Catholic Parish

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Confirmation Prep – Anointed

by

“Anointed”

Catechist Summary * Slides

  • Track A: Monday 12/15/2025, 6:45-8:30 p.m. in Mission Hall at the Parish Center
    • with continuing Advent Confessions in the kitchen off the gym
  • Track B: Wednesday 12/17/2025 and Thursday 12/18/2025 in 8th Grade Religion class (may need to be flexible around Advent Confessions at St. Matthias and pageant/music rehearsals at Queen of Angels)

Timed Icebreaker (2 min.)

List ways you can help people using your hands. Groups can use the notepads provided during class. Students making up the session later can use a blank page at the end of one of the sections in their Journal.  

Opening Prayer (5 min.) for Advent

Responsory for Late Advent and Lighting of Wreath

Drop down dew, ​O heavens: ​Let the clouds rain down the Just One.​
Let the earth be opened: that a Savior ​may bud forth.
On that day the mountains will stream with sweetness: ​And the hills will flow with milk and honey.​
​Come, Lord Jesus! ​ Come soon!

Intro to the Confirming Bishop (20 min)

See slides presented by Ms. Hohner on Monday evening (or Mr. Rosales/Mr. Howell in Religion during the week), with the slide Notes pages for the presenter.

  • “Who Am I?” guessing game
  • Bishop Turley interesting facts (many of which are connections to Pope Leo!)
  • What do bishops do?
  • The Bishop in the Confirmation Mass
  • Letter to the Pastor

Writing Letters (60 min)

Each candidate will write their own Letter to the Pastor.  A holiday treat will be served as incentive to work hard on your letter.

Letter instructions: Track A * Track B
(only thing different between the 2 tracks is the exact due date for letters taken home to finish outside of class)
Page 2 includes some helpful hints for successfully turning in your Letter to the Pastor (or Confirmation Name reflection) via email or digital Share link.

Prayer Ritual (5 min)

As we prepare to give and receive gifts this Christmas, ​let us take a moment now to give thanks for our greatest gift​ which came to us from God in a most unexpected package.

Option to first look at “Who Is My Neighbor?” box at the top of p. 1340 in Catholic Youth Bible​

“He Came” video – formerly available on YouTube from Thrive Media, now embedded in the slides

One night, long ago, he came. 
God took on flesh and lived among us.
He came quietly, miraculously, humbly, willingly.
He came to love, to heal, to serve.
He came to redeem, to renew, to save.
He came for everyone.
He came for you.
He came.

Christmas Prayer

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: ​for a shining star and the angels’ song, for an infant’s cry in a lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child, and we thank you for the Son you sent to us to be our Savior and King. We behold His glory, and we are bathed in His radiant light. Be with us through the contradictions of Christmas – the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world apart. We kneel before you as humble shepherds, reluctant innkeepers, world-weary Magi. Help us to rise bigger than we are, with more hope and faith to help heal our world.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Closing & Dismissal (5 min)

HOMEWORK

  • If not done already:
    • catch up on Journal pages vi-xii, 2-4, 22-25, 32-34, 44-47, 52-56, 64 previously assigned
    • finish and send in your Confirmation Name Reflection which was due in November!
  • Next class session:
    • Track A (Religious Ed.): Monday, January 5 from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Mission Hall at the Parish Center, 4412 N. Western (no school for CPS that day, but you are supposed to be back in school the next morning)
    • Track B (Catholic Schools): Wednesday, January 7 and Thursday, January 8 in 8th Grade Religion
    • Letters being taken home to finish are due the week we come back!
      • Track A: due Monday, January 5
      • Track B: due Thursday, January 8
  • Merry Christmas!  See you in 2026!

Note for later on:

  • Letter to the Pastor assigned as classwork in mid-December, due when come back in January:
  • Interviews to be scheduled in January and February
    • 15-minute interview with parish staff member (Father Jason Malave, Mr. Tom Houlihan, Mrs. Nicole Pacholski or Ms. Rachel Hohner)
    • options for after-school, evenings or Saturday morning
    • sign up online through SignUpGenius in early January when we come back from break
    • to foster connections with those you do not already know well:
      • Track A should NOT choose an interview appointment with Ms. Rachel Hohner, Coordinator of Religious Education
      • Track B should NOT choose an interview appointment with their own school’s Principal (but the other school’s Principal would be OK)
      • anyone can choose an interview appointment with Father Jason
  • Retreat II with Reconciliation on Friday, January 30 for Track A & B (all 2nd Year students)
    • candidates 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at our St. Matthias site
    • parents & Sponsors invited to join for dinner & second half of retreat (6:30-8:30)
    • probably beginning at St. Matthias Gym, 4910 N. Claremont
    • ending at St. Matthias Church, 2310 W. Ainslie
  • Service Hours due in early February
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