Faith Weaving Program

Faith Weaving is a whole-family religious education program offered here at St. Joseph Catholic Church.  This innovative program has been offered for over ten years as an alternative option to weekly traditional religious education.  It was developed by Roz Camardella to allow families to deepen their faith through shared learning; honoring and strengthening the domestic church.

Faith Weaving families meet once a month on either Friday or Sunday for a 2-hour whole-family session.  These sessions generally open with all ages together for an engaging greeting, an introduction to the topic for the month, and a prayer.  Then the families split, with the children going to grade appropriate groups in the school and the parents remain in the Koenig Center for an adult presentation.  Both children and adults will be presented with discussion and activities around the same topic at an age appropriate level for about an hour and 15 minutes. 

Our volunteer catechists guide groups from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.  Many of our high school and college-aged family members continue to attend with their families sharing their faith as aides or catechists after the eighth grade.  Their witness of faith is especially rich.  The adults are guided through the monthly topic by the Faith Weaving Coordinator or a guest speaker each month. Our guest speakers come from our staff, our families, and outside speakers.  This diversity of presenters makes the adult sessions rich and varied.  Discussion is a critical piece of every session.

When the children return to the Koenig Center and their parents, the families participate in a whole family activity to share and process what they have been discussing in classes.  We join our families as one community for announcements, to pray over members of the community during special events, and to send our families forth with materials to keep the discussion going all month long.  At-home activities are as important as the whole-family sessions for forming our families in faith.

Currently, we offer a session on Friday from 6:15-8:15pm, and a session on Sundays from 6:15-8:15pm.  Each session has become a small faith community in which successes and failures of growing faith in our families are shared.  We would love to have you join us!
Contact Patty McCarthy, 847-990-1235, for more information.