​Grade 7 & 8 Overview

Edge Sessions: This year we are using a Junior High program from Life Teen called Edge. It does not use a book. Instead it uses presentations, videos, activities, discussions and handouts.  These Edge session will be held at St. Jude Parish Hall from 5:30pm to 6:45pm followed by the 7:00pm Mass. They will not be in a classroom, but on a table. We will have 16 Edge Sessions during the year. We will study Church during the first half of the year, and Commandments the second half of the year.
 
Mass Attendance: Attending Mass has always been part of our Faith formation program, and thus part of Edge. We have scheduled our Edge sessions just before Mass so that students and their families can attend this Mass. The 7pm Mass at St. Jude will become a Faith Formation Youth Mass. Each week the Mass will be sponsored by a different grade who will bring up the gifts, do the readings, and help with the collection. Also this Mass will have a homily directed towards the youth. We ask that youth sit with their families, but if this is not possible they can sit up front with the adult leaders. If a student needs to attend a different Mass, a parent needs to speak with their child’s table leaders about this. All efforts should be made to attend the 7pm Mass when their class is sponsoring it.  
 
Mass Preparation: Twice a year each grade will have a session in which they learn about the Mass by planning a Mass. They will study the readings, write the petitions, and help design the homily. For these Masses they can also get involved with the music if they have musical skills. On this day they will also have pizza and snacks. If a child cannot have pizza please tell us so that other arrangements can be made. These evenings of pizza and Mass preparation will be done on the same night as the other middle school grade is doing Food Pantry Preparation at St. Anthony.
 
Service Projects: Service is an important part of our faith. It is one of the main ways of growing in faith, thus we have designed our Edge program to include service.  One service project is to help with the collaborative Food Pantry which is being directed by Michael Cody. Michael Cody used to be a teacher at Coyle/Cassidy. After Coyle/Cassidy closed he taught at Connolly High School for a year, and retired in June. At Coyle/Cassidy he founded and directed a monthly food pantry, and will continue to do so at Taunton Catholic North. The Pantry is on the final Saturday of the month. Initially, it will still be called"Coyle/Cassidy Food Pantry at St. Anthony Church'' because the name is recognized by people in the area. Twice a year a grade will help with the pantry. Their class on the Sunday before the Food Pantry will be held at St. Anthony  where they will  organize the food bags, and also have a class on Christian Service. We will end in time so that they can attend the 7pm Mass. The following Saturday from 8:30am to 11am they will help to distribute the food bags. We invite parents to get involved in  the food pantry as well. Because of the pandemic the food pantry is drive-through. Bags are brought to the cars. The actual distribution is from 9am to 11am.  Another service project is that once a year they will help with the Meal Ministry. Our collaborative sponsors a weekly Meal Ministry feeding a hot meal and bag lunch to over 30 people each week. This meal ministry, unlike the food pantry, only needs a small group of workers so that each individual table will be involved with one meal ministry per year.  All together this will be 7 hours of Christian service outside of a classroom. If a student cannot attend a particular service project, we can design other service projects for them to do. Like attending Mass we want to be flexible with service because we recognize how busy families are.
 
Living Stations: We are going to have grades 7 & 8 sponsor the Living Stations at St. Jude at 3pm on Good Friday. They will prepare for the Living Stations during their regular class time the week before
 
Youth Ministry:  During the year we will have voluntary Youth Ministry activities as part of our Edge program. For example we could have a bowling night or a skating night. We also plan on having activities during the summer to keep the youth engaged in the parishes.
 
Thanksgiving Food Drive & Advent Toy Drive: We are going to have two family Service Projects. For the 7pm Mass on November 21,  the Sunday before Thanksgiving,  we will do an upper level Faith Formation Food Drive. For that Mass we ask families to bring in non-perishable food items to restock our Food Pantry. Also on one of the Sundays in December we will do an upper level Faith Formation Toy Drive.  More information about these events will follow.  
 
Parent Volunteers: In order to have an effective and dynamic Junior High Youth Ministry program, we will need parent volunteers to form a support staff for Youth Ministry Activities. We will send out a survey via FlockNotes so that parents can sign-up. Parents will need to go through the diocesan Safe Environment training program.  You can do most of the process on-line at  fallriver.cmgconnect.org