First Holy Communion

First Holy Communion

Congratulations!

We would like to offer our congratulations to the children who have recently received their First Holy Communion. It has been a pleasure to assist your parents in preparing you for this wonderful occasion and we look forward to seeing you all at Mass as you come back again and again to receive Jesus. We will continue to pray for you and your families, and we ask that you remember us in your prayers too.

 

New Registrations for 2023-24

Registrations are now closed for this year’s course as we have reached maximum capacity. We ask our parishioners to pray for this year’s children and their families, and also for the parish team working to prepare them to receive Our Lord at their First Holy Communion. 

Key Dates

  • Register NOW!
  • Locate your child’s baptism certificate as soon as possible
  • Registration deadline: Friday 1stSeptember 2023
  • Parent meeting on Zoom in early September – date TBC
  • Schedule of key dates for the September 2023 – June 2024 course to follow
  • First Confession in late January/early February 2024
  • First Holy Communion in June/early July 2024 (families will be able to choose from four weekends)

 

Structure of the Course

We will teach roughly half of the course in person in the parish centre and the other half online using Zoom, alternating between these. Children will have two lessons a month, roughly one in person and one online. We will give you a schedule of dates which makes clear where and when each lesson will take place.

The lessons in person will be at 8am in the parish hall. Parents are welcome to stay in the small meeting room next to the hall during the class or drop the children off and collect at 9:15am. Many families choose to then attend 9:30 Mass, during which there is a children’s Liturgy of the Word for younger children (starting at 9:30 in the hall).

Online lessons will take place at 9am using Zoom. We ask that an adult is present in the room with the child for the duration of the lesson, both for safeguarding purposes and to help your child engage with the lesson.

Depending on numbers, we will allocate the children between two or three groups.

 

Course Materials

Our course book is Jesus Comes to Me by Dora Nash. We will provide this book for each child along with some other books that we use during the course (including the children’s Simple Prayer Book and Simple Mass Book), so there is no need for you to buy it in advance. We will ask for a voluntary donation towards the course materials.

Parent Catechesis

We plan to offer five catechesis sessions for parents during the course. This will be delivered via Zoom on weekday evenings. These dates will be confirmed at the start of the course.

Diocesan Guidelines

Please read our Diocesan Guidelines below. You may also find this First Holy Communion Reflective Document useful to read through (produced by the Archdiocese of Edinburgh).

Diocesan Guidelines-for-Preparation-for-First-Holy-Communion

First Holy Communion Reflective Document 

Please contact us at olemfirstcommunion@rcdea.org.uk with any queries.