First Holy Communion 2022

The Parish is now inviting parents of Catholic children to  enrol them in our First Holy Communion Programme for 2022. In our Diocese, the usual age for receiving this Sacrament for the first time is 8 years of age (children in Year 3 or above).

First Holy Communion is an important stage in your child’s spiritual development, and we want to help you in preparing your child for this most special Sacrament. When your child was baptised, he/she was welcomed into the family of the Church. Holy Communion is the Sacrament which binds us together as God’s family, providing strength and spiritual nourishment for our journey in faith together. During the preparation for this Sacrament, we will also be preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).

In this programme, you and your child will be asked to reflect on your faith. In the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion, you are continuing the faith commitment which you made in your child’s name when he or she was baptised. As the rite of baptism says: “…parents are the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith. May they also be the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith by what they say and do…”
Through these Sacraments we help the children to grow and mature as Catholic Christians. The preparation programme which we use in St Gregory’s and St Thomas More’s Parishes assumes that your child has been learning about their faith:
• at home
• at school, and
• through participation in the Sunday Mass in the parish.

The sessions are run on a Saturday morning in the Parish buildings in Cheltenham. The programme will include some special children's Masses on Saturday mornings.

There will be meetings for Parents at the same time as the children's sessions. The Parent's program includes information on what the children are learning and how you as their first teachers (remember your promises at their baptism?) can help them at this stage of their spiritual lives. The parent's program also provides an opportunity to reflect on and discuss our own faith.

If you would like to enrol your child, please complete the application form - see button to the left. If it is not possible for you to complete an on line form, then please contact the parish office for a paper based one. To complete the form you will need to know the date and place of your child's baptism.