A Parish-based Programme for First Eucharist

Do This in Memory offers guidelines and suggestions for making the Sunday celebration, and indeed the church environment, a place where children feel welcome and have a sense of belonging. There is also an opportunity for parents and guardians to become more actively involved in preparing for and ministering within the Sunday celebration.

The inspiration for Do This in Memory is drawn from the General Directory for Catechesis and Handing on the Faith in the Home. The Christian community is the origin, locus and goal of catechesis. Proclamation of the Gospel always begins with the Christian community and invites people to conversion and the following of Christ. It is the same community that welcomes those who wish to know the Lord better and permeate themselves with a new life� (GDC, 254)

The home should be the first church which children should know, and in which they are reminded of God and helped to pray by what they see around them. Religion begins at home. Parents are the first religion teachers and the most important of all teachers of religion. (Handing on the Faith in the Home (1980) Number 4)

Do This in Memory is a resource for parish communities to assist them in the preparation for First Communion. It complements the school-based work.

Do This in Memory takes place once a month from September to June during the parish Sunday Eucharist. It is continued in the home through the use of activities and resources for both parents/guardians and children.

Do This in Memory highlights the importance of the Sunday Eucharist as a celebration where we gather, are nourished by the Word and the Bread of Life, and are sent forth to live the Gospel. It also acknowledges the home as the most important and significant place, where the faith of our children is nurtured, nourished and sustained.

Do This in Memory is built on the four cornerstones which lay the foundation for sound community-based sacramental preparation.

� The sacramental preparation of children is the responsibility of

the home, school and parish working together in partnership.

� The work of sacramental preparation begins long before the First

Eucharist celebration.

� The celebration of First Eucharist is a sacred and important

moment on a long journey of faith development. Together with

Baptism and Confirmation, it opens the door to full membership

of the Christian community. It is not an end in itself.

� The sacramental preparation of our children must always be seen

as one element of the broader task of whole-community

catechesis.

Further information and resources available at www.veritas.ie