Holy Name of Mary affirms the following statements (as set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)), regarding the relationship among parents, children, the local parish and the responsibility of religious education:

• Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons.  Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God’s law (CCC#2222).

• The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities (CCC #2224).

• Through the grace of the sacraments of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children (CCC #2225).

• Education in the faith by parents should begin in the child’s earliest years (CCC#2226).

• The parish is the Eucharistic community and heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents (CCC #2226).

Pursuant to the statements above, Holy Name of Mary adopts the following policy regarding the Faith Formation of children and youth within the parish:

1. Parents hold the primary responsibility for, and are the primary source of, the Religious Education of their children.

2. Holy Name of Mary is the Eucharist community and heart of the liturgical life of the Catholic families in the parish; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents within the HNM community.

3. Regardless of the parents’ choice of school for the academic education of the children (Catholic, private, public, home-school), parents have an obligation to tie the religious education of their children into the formal religious education program of the parish.