Parish of St. Monica and St. James : Education



	Parish of St. Monica and St. James Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.


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Education

Christian formation is the ongoing pursuit of a greater understand of God's gifts to us and our capacity for giving and receiving God's love to transform the world. At St. Monica and St. James, we offer a variety of opportunities for you to explore outside of worship the many dimensions of God's love.

Sunday School

At St Monica and St. James we recognize children as full members of the Church. In practice this means that children are welcome in our services, welcome to receive the body and blood in communion, and welcome at coffee hour.

Children who wish to are welcome to stay in the pews for the entire service, but we do not expect or require them to pay unwavering attention. Instead, we offer boxes with legos, paper, crayons, and a pencil for younger children and, for older children, “Pew Work”. Pew work is designed for children who can read; it encourages your child to listen to the readings and sermon and to talk about what they have heard and understood. The boxes and pew work are available from the ushers in the foyer.

Beginning at 10:00 am, concurrent with that hour's service, St. James offers Sunday School classes for children who do not wish to remain in the service. Following the passing of the Peace, children are brought upstairs to have communion with their families, and may remain in the sanctuary through the end of the Mass or return downstairs to clean up. Children may sit with their parents or with the Sunday School teachers during this time. We have tailored our Sunday School programs to lead children to understand and be able to participate in our main services. Each week we start in the Chapel with a procession, candle lighting, a child led Reading, prayers of the people, and passing the peace and then we proceed to our lectionary based lessons. For these classes, we use “Living the Good News” (LtGN) curriculum from Morehouse. LtGN is a lectionary-based curriculum, which means that the stories, activities, and disussions follow the lessons, read in each week's service, that are the basis of that week's sermon. Sunday School is held as one group of mixed ages or as separate age groups depending on the number of children present on discussions in Sunday School are tailored for different ages and often relate our Christian beliefs to our daily lives.

Additionally, we offer family “Activity and Discussion” sheets as a way of helping you to integrate a life of worship into your own home, and to help you prepare your children (and yourself!) to participate more deeply in the following week's service. These sheets are sent home monthly and are also available each Sunday. They list the collect and readings for the Sunday following, and offer some areas for discussion based on the Bible readings, plus some activities oriented to the liturgical season (or just plain fun). These discussion and activity ideas are a mixture of original materials and ideas culled from a variety of resources including The Domestic Church and the LtGN curriculum.

Children and Easter at Sts. Monica and James
     We have two special children's traditions at this time of year.
     On Good Friday there is an interactive Stations of the Cross for children. The activities, developed by our very own Education Director Sara Leonard, engage our children's senses and imaginations as they re-create our Lord's experiences during the Passion.
     On Easter morning after High Mass, the children have an Easter egg hunt in the parish garden. Younger children get a head start! The eggs are blessed during the Mass, and an ancient tradition relates that to eat a blessed egg on Easter is good.

Nursery
Our newly renovated nursery is located outside of the upper parish hall and features live audio feed from the sanctuary so that parents who wish to remain with their children in the nursery may still hear the service. A nursery attendant is on duty during the 10:00 am Mass.

Newcomers' Luncheon
The newcomers' luncheon is held twice annually to give people who are new to the community an opporutnity to meet other newcomers, learn more about the parish, and get to know the parish priest a little better.

Inquirer's Class
People wishing to be confirmed in the Episcopal Church (or simply to learn more about Anglicanism) participate in this multiweek study group to develop a greater awareness and understanding of Episcopal life and faith.

Other adult study opportunities
Every year several adult education opportunities are offered ranging from book studies on contemporary issues, to quiet days and guided meditation, to bible studies to discussion groups.

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