What is the St. Thomas Parish Religious Education Program? The St. Thomas Parish Religious Education Program is a formal religious education program which provides faith formation and sacrament preparation to parish children who attend local public schools.
Summer PREP: (Levels 4,5,6) - June 24-28, 2024 plus 4 sessions during the school year. - June 23-27, 2025 plus 4 sessions during the school year.
Camp Caritas Summer Confirmation Preparation - offered through Bishop Shanahan and Bonner/Prendie high schools. Contact the host school for more information.
Families new to the program (new parishioners or incoming first graders) can call the office to get started or fill out this New Family Information FORM. Families who join the parish during the school year may register at any time. Contact Maryanne Chestnut [email protected] for more information or questions.
Families RETURNING to our program will receive an email early in the year inviting them to enroll for the following year. Registration and payment may be completed online or in the office.
For the 2024-25 year, the registration fee to register 1 child is $225.00, for 2 children it is $375.00 and for 3 children or more the fee is $475.00. The registration fee is due at the time of registration in the Program. There will be a $25.00 discount per family for all registrations before May 15, 2024 . Registration is now closed. If you are a current family and need to re-enroll, please contact our office for availability. New families, please fill out the New Family Form to start the process.
The summer program (levels 4, 5 and 6) also requires a $100 additional fee to cover materials and professional catechists. This amount is collected separately in 2024.
A copy of a child's Baptismal certificate is required for a child entering CCD/PREP for the first time. In addition, for grade levels other than 1, we require a record of the child's prior religious education from their previous school or PREP office.
The family must be registered with St. Thomas the Apostle parish.
What is the attendance policy of CCD/PREP? It is Archdiocesan policy and, therefore, the policy of CCD/PREP that 3 or more absences during the course of the PREP calendar year is considered excessive. Excessive absences may cause an incomplete PREP year, and require repeating the grade level.
What is an excused absence? Excused absences include: illness of the student, serious illness in the family, death in the family, quarantine, or other urgent reason. Please email an absence note directly to the DRE at [email protected] and include the reason for the absence. Parents are expected to teach the lesson their child missed. Instructions will be provided by the office and/or your child's catechist.
Is there a procedure for early dismissal from a class? While early dismissal is not encouraged, we realize that emergency circumstances arise from time to time which would make early dismissal necessary. In the event that an early dismissal is necessary, the parent or guardian who will be escorting a child from the school building must report to the PREP office. The Director or a Hall monitor will escort the child to the office for pickup. A note or email must be provided before class time. 3 or more early dismissals during the course of the PREP calendar year is considered excessive and may result in extra work or repeating the level.