Friends on the Way

What’s included

Crossing the Ages: Intergenerational Activities for Forming Faith is a collection of activities you can use to enhance your formation sessions and gatherings. Use them to extend a learning session or to draw out a particular teaching or theme in a simple hands-on activity. Each activity corresponds to a specific Sunday of the liturgical year, but you can also use them any time of the year to focus on a specific theme highlighted in the suggested Scripture reading. Each activity includes a specific theme and focus, clear directions for the leader, and a fun activity that helps bring the message of faith to life for your intergenerational groups. Learning has never been more fun!

Activities for the Lent 2013 Packet

• First Sunday of Lent: Desert Place Prayer Jars
• Second Sunday of Lent: “Transforming the World” Picture Prayers
• Third Sunday of Lent: “God Is” Mural
• Fourth Sunday of Lent: The Rest of the Story
• Fifth Sunday of Lent: Jesus-like Sand Message
• Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion: The Cross, Redemption, and Capital Punishment

Free sample

Download a free sample from the intergenerational activity for the First Sunday of Lent, Year C. Just click here.

PDF files give you more options

Each packet comes to you as a single PDF file that you can download, save on your computer, email to your catechists, activity leaders, and volunteers, or print. Your purchase gives you permission to make as many copies as you need within your parish.

Note for Friends on the Way subscribers

Crossing the Ages: Intergenerational Activities for Forming Faith is drawn from Friends on the Way. Those who have already purchased Friends on the Way, Year C, already have the pages included in Crossing the Ages. No further purchase is necessary.

Crossing the Ages: Lent 2013

Details:
Product #10-006JM
PDF file download
TeamRCIA (2013)
8.5″ x 11″

What’s included

Faith at Home: Take-Home Handouts for Family Faith Formation is a two-page (double-sided), intergenerational handout you can send home with the children to give to their parents each Sunday. Every session contains:

• A simple faith reflection process for the first reading
• A simple faith reflection process for the second reading
• A simple faith reflection process for the Gospel
• An interactive activity for the entire family to participate in

Benefits

If your families spend 30 minutes a week with Faith at Home, they will:

• Come to a deeper level of intimacy with Jesus
• Grow in their love of Scripture
• Participate more actively in the Sunday liturgy
• Strengthen their ties with the parish community
• Learn to love those most in need in our neighborhoods

Faith at Home is perfect for all families who want to grow in their faith. It is especially useful for families with children who are preparing for baptism, confirmation, or Eucharist (first Communion).

Free sample

Faith at Home begins with the First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C. However, you can download a free sample of the Sundays of November to get a sneak preview of the process. Just click here.

PDF files give you more options

Each Faith at Home month comes to you as a single PDF file that you can download, save on your computer, email to your families, or print. Your purchase gives you permission to make as many copies as you need within your parish.

Note for Friends on the Way subscribers

Faith at Home is drawn from Friends on the Way. Those who have already purchased Friends on the Way, Year C, already have the pages included in Faith at Home. No further purchase is necessary.

December 2012, Advent Sundays only

Details:
Product #10-005JM
PDF file download
TeamRCIA (2012)
8.5″ x 11″

Quarterly Pricing Options
Sometimes, all you need is a few months. TeamRCIA now offers three-month bundles for Friends on the Way. You’ll receive access to each of the sessions for the three-month bundle you purchase as each session becomes available.

for 2013

full Year C subscription
Your best buy is always the full 12 months at only $97.50

December 2012 January February 2013 (Year C) $36.00

March April May 2013 (Year C) $36.00

June July August 2013 (Year C) $36.00

September October November 2013 (Year C) $36.00 coming soon

full Year B subscription

full Year A subscription

You will receive a private webpage link and password where you can download all your available sessions. Your single purchase gives you permission to make as many copies for your parish as you need!

Thank you for creating this. Since the resource we had been using has been discontinued, we have been putting together sessions from multiple sources which is time-consuming and confusing. Thank you so much for putting it all together in one resource.

Charlene Dumitru
Director of Adult Faith Formation and RCIA
St. Norbert Church, Orange, CA

Click here for a free sample. (PDF file, 489k)

Here’s a 50-minute webinar of Janet leading an overview of the great features of Friends on the Way with lots of Q & A from the participants on children’s catechumenate issues.

A simple, concrete, comprehensive catechesis for child catechumens

Friends on the Way is designed for your child catechumens. This isn’t an adaptation of something originally designed for adult RCIA or Catholic sacramental preparation. It has been written, from the ground up, for unbaptized catechumens.

Friends on the Way is comprehensive. The program includes a dismissal session and a catechetical session for every Sunday of the liturgical year. In the course of the year, children learn about the entire mystery of faith.

Friends on the Way is flexible. Each unit is designed so that you can proceed to the catechetical session immediately after the dismissal session on Sunday. Or you can facilitate the catechetical session sometime later in the week.

Friends on the Way is intergenerational. We all know that older, unbaptized children often have parents who might need a good deal of formation themselves. Every session of Friends on the Way includes an optional intergenerational activity to help the parents help their children grow in faith plus a take-home handout for families to use at home to help them pray, share faith, and live that faith in their household.

Friends on the Way is engaging. Author and designer Janet Miller has been teaching children for 45 years. She serves in the children’s initiation ministry in her parish. And she has 10 grandchildren! She knows how to keep a child’s interest.

Friends on the Way is easy to use. The sessions are clearly outlined and includes illustrations when necessary. You can put this in the hands of your children’s RCIA catechists and have confidence they will succeed.

Friends on the Way is scriptural and liturgical. Every dismissal and catechetical session flows from the Sunday readings of the liturgical year.

Friends on the Way is linked to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Every catechetical session includes a direct reference to the Catechism.

Friends on the Way is economical. Because it is sold as an e-resource, production costs are low. Sessions are sent to you as download links. You have them on your computer and may use them as needed year after year. You only pay for them once. And your purchase entitles you to make as many copies as you need for use within your own parish.

I checked out the resource, and I love it! This is an answer to prayer.

Terri McDermott
Youth Group Coordinator
St. Joseph Church, Philadelphia, PA

Still not sure?

Click here for a free sample. (PDF file, 489k) Once you see the actual material, you will be convinced this is the perfect resource for your children’s RCIA catechists. You can’t afford to spend another week without the wonderful support Friends on the Way offers you.

Details:
Product #10-001JM
PDF, monthly download for Year A
TeamRCIA (2010)

Product #10-002JMB
PDF, monthly download for Year B
TeamRCIA (2011)

Product #10-003JMC
PDF, monthly download for Year C
TeamRCIA (2012)

Description:
Janet Miller, author and designer of Friends on the Way, gives us a complete walk-through of this simple, concrete, comprehensive catechesis for child catechumens.

Friends on the Way includes a dismissal session and a catechetical session for every Sunday of the liturgical year. In the course of the year, children learn about the entire mystery of faith. And each session includes a direct link to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Also, you can use Friends on the Way to help the parents catechize their children—even if the parents’ level of faith-knowledge is not very strong. Each session includes an optional intergenerational activity that will get the whole family interacting together plus a reproducible handout for families to take home, which helps them pray, share faith, and put that faith into action.

The best thing about Friends on the Way is that it is completely electronic. That means you download each session directly to your computer as a PDF file, and you keep that file on your computer as long as you want. Plus, you have our permission to forward that file and to print as many copies as you like for each of the catechists on your team.

Sneak preview of Friends on the Way

Janet is working on the sessions for Year A as we speak. Advent is finished and available now. Christmastide and Winter Ordinary Time are soon to follow. We wanted to let you know about this now so we can give you an advance look. Click here for a free sample (PDF, 478 kb) and take a look for yourself.

For more information on ordering Year A of Friends on the Way, go to this Web page. And if you are not directly involved in the children’s catechumenate, please forward this information to someone who is. They’re going to want to know!