QUEEN OF APOSTLES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
4911 MOORPARK AVENUE
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129
(408) 255-9950
December 27, 2014
Dear Families,
Your second or third grader is preparing to celebrate the sacrament of
Reconciliation (Penance or Confession). This sacrament will be celebrated on
Tuesday, January 13, 2014, at Queen of Apostles Church. Please be at the
church by 6:45 p.m. and have your child meet with their teacher. It will be a
communal celebration of the sacrament with the option of individual
confession being offered to your student. You and your family are also invited
to participate in individual confession as well. We encourage you to model for
your child. We do ask that you keep your confession brief. This is not the time
for lengthy confession or counseling.
In order to provide an environment that is calm and reverent, we ask
that you please avoid bringing babies and very young children. This is a very
special time for you and your student. Also, so that we may protect the privacy
of all our penitents, no photography will be allowed.
We hope you will come to the communal celebration with your student.
Coming together as a family and community to experience God’s healing love
and peace is a very rewarding and spiritual experience.
The decision for your student to go to individual confession is theirs
entirely. Reconciliation is a gift, and cannot be forced. You know your child
best, and can discern with them their readiness. Whether your child goes to
individual confession or not, we hope that you will attend this service.
(Over)
Included with this letter, are tips on helping your child prepare for reconciliation.
Also enclosed, you will find a good examination of conscience for children. We
encourage you to go over these with your child, and help them to understand
those parts they may be unsure of. Use your own best judgment. You may wish
to focus on some sections more than others.
Treating this time with your child as an opportunity to grow stronger and
closer to God is very important. Encourage your student, and remind them that
the sacrament is not about what they’ve done wrong, but about God’s mercy and
love for us.
Please contact our office if you have any concerns or questions.
Yours in Him,
The School and Religious Education Staffs
HELPING PREPARE YOUR CHILD TO CELEBRATE RECONCILIATION
Here are some suggestions for you to help prepare your child for the
sacrament of Reconciliation.
1. Please pick a special time when you and your child can privately discuss
this.
2. You may want to point out to your child that we are coming together to
celebrate God's love and forgiveness for the times we deliberately do things
that are wrong and hurt others or ourselves, times when we could have
done better, or when we do things that go against the way God would want
us to act or be. As a community of people who love God, we come together
to ask for the help of God and our fellow Christians so that we can grow
stronger. Within the communal celebration, there will be an opportunity
offered for your child to go to individual confession. This is something
your child should want to do, and also be at a readiness level to do.
3. If your child is going to individual confession, you may want to discuss the
following: there will be several priests hearing confessions, and your child
can go to any one of them. One priest will be available in the reconcilation
room, where they will have the option of confessing face to face or behind a
screen. Step back and let your child speak privately to the priest. Your
child needs only to tell the priest of those things he/she has deliberately
done wrong. The priest will absolve them, and then you and your child will
proceed to the daily chapel for quiet prayer time.
4. If a parent chooses individual confession, please try to keep your
confession brief. We encourage you to model for your child. Your child can
wait for you in the church, and then go with you to the daily chapel.
5. In the daily chapel you are invited to pray together. When you are through
praying, have your child place his or her sheep on the banner outside of
the daily chapel, as a symbol of being once again united with Christ. This
marks the end of the celebration for your family, and you are free to leave.
Please do not stay and chat with others in the church or vestibule. We
want to keep the atmosphere as quiet and prayerful as possible.
Examination of Conscience for Children
I. I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.
Do I give time every day to God in prayer?
Do I put my trust in superstitions, good luck charms, rather than God alone?
Have I disobeyed any Church teaching or pretended I was not Catholic?
II. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Have I used the words "God" or "Jesus" in anger or irreverently?
Have I used foul or ugly language? Have I wished evil on another?
III. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
Have I missed Mass on Sunday or any holy day of obligation?
Do I arrive at church late or leave early?
Do I try to be reverent and pay attention during Mass?
Do I avoid unnecessary work on Sunday?
Do I make Sunday a day of prayer or rest?
IV. Honor your father and your mother.
Do I respect and obey my parents?
Have I dishonored or mistreated them by my words or actions?
Am I willing to help around the house or must I be nagged a hundred times?
Do I try to get along with my brothers and sisters?
Am I a tattletale or bully?
Do I give a good example, especially to younger siblings?
Do I respect others in authority: priests, nuns, police, old people, baby-sitters?
V. You shall not kill.
Do I beat up others or hurt their bodies?
Do I say cruel things, or make fun of others to hurt their feelings?
Do I say mean things about others behind their backs?
Have I stopped speaking to anyone?
Do I encourage others to do bad things?
Do I try to love all people, born and unborn, old and young, pretty and ugly?
VI. You shall not commit adultery.
Do I treat my body and other people's bodies with care and respect?
Do I look at television shows, movies, or pictures that are bad?
Am I modest in my speech and the clothes I wear?
VII. You shall not steal.
Have I taken things that were not mine from a store or another person?
Have I destroyed or misused another person's property for fun?
Do I return things that I borrow? In good condition?
VIII. You shall not commit false witness against your neighbor.
Am I honest in my school work?
Do I tell lies or exaggerate to make myself look good?
Do I tell lies to protect myself from punishment?
Do I tell lies or exaggerate to make another person look bad or get them in trouble?
IX. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
Do I allow my parents to spend time with one another, or do I get jealous and want
them to pay attention only to me?
Do I get mad when I have to share my friends?
Are there kids I will not play with or am mean to because they look different or are
different?
X. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
Am I jealous or envious of the things or abilities that others have?
Do I beg my parents for things my friends or other children have?
Am I thankful to God and my parents for what they have given me?
Do I share the things I have with my family, friends and poor people?