By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/11/04)

Located just blocks from Old Town Manassas in the heart of Prince William County, All Saints Parish is the spiritual home of more than 16,000 parishioners, making it the largest parish in the diocese.

While All Saints School tends to the development of 550 young Catholics, there are nearly 2,000 more young people attending local public schools, who rely on the parish to provide for their catechesis.

Once children reach the age of confirmation, they are not only educated through religious education, they also are invited to join the junior high ministry and become more actively involved in the church and get to know their peers. Eighth-grade is a transition point for many youths, and it is a challenge for youth ministers to keep children involved in faith formation following confirmation. Youth Minister Rob Tessier works closely with Joanna Catabui, director of religious education (DRE), to interact with seventh- and eighth-graders so that they become involved in youth ministry in high school. Many might think of youth ministry as a social program, but Tessier works to ensure that there is a "very strong educational component."

While Catabui is responsible for educating the junior high students on their faith, Tessier works to keep them involved and active in the church following their confirmation. The Youth Ministry has created single-sex weekend retreats for eighth-graders to help them strengthen their faith and commit themselves to being more involved. Junior High Ministry also provides Friday night gatherings at the parish so that teens can become better acquainted with their peers outside of a religious education classroom.

Once they reach high school, Sunday night programs are run with a "gather, proclaim, break and send" structure. About 100 youths gather to hear a talk or watch a movie based on the night’s theme. The theme is a theological topic, a moral or a hot topic in the news, such as gay "marriages" or depression. After the main talk, the group is divided into smaller groups to discuss the night’s message before rejoining the larger group before dismissal. "It’s not classroom style, but they’re learning," Tessier said.

With some high school kids thirsting to learn more about their faith, and some attending youth ministry simply because their friends do, it takes a lot of work and cooperation between Tessier and Catabui to keep the youths involved.

While parents are considered the primary educators of their children, "Certainly, our mission is our parish school and religious education, to bring our children closer to Christ," said Catabui.

Because of the size of the facilities and the number of children needing to be taught, there are four sessions of classes, Monday and Wednesday nights and two sessions on Sunday, for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Seventh and eighth grade classes are only offered once a week, but Catabui thinks they will have to increase to two sessions next year. Classes in Spanish are offered once a week for about 400 students. "There’s always something happening here," Catabui said.

A special education class is provided on Sunday mornings with a curriculum designed for children with special needs. A family catechesis program is also available for parents who want to teach their children at home. Parents are provided with texts and activities, and they submit tests to the DRE each semester.

Catabui has been DRE of All Saints Parish for about a year and a half. Marie Riley had been with the parish for 16 years. "I came into a well-established program," Catabui said, and that has made her job a lot easier.

Before moving to Manassas, Catabui worked as a DRE at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, N.C. It was a much smaller parish, and she did a lot to organize a new program for children, as well as adults.

Aside from structured classes and book learning, All Saints religious education students also participate in service projects, prayer lists and annual events. Different grades learn more about participating in the Mass and other parish events by hosting meatless Lenten suppers, leading the Stations of the Cross, having discussions with priests and participating in Mass as ushers, lectors and gift bearers.

They also complete stewardship projects, such as making sandwiches for the homeless and giving stockings and Easter baskets to the needy.

While the program itself is very large, the parish tries to limit class size to about 20 students. Because of this, there are sometimes up to nine classes for each grade. There are also three sacrament preparation classes for students who might be a year or two behind and want to receive communion or be confirmed.

Receiving sacraments becomes a logistical nightmare when there are hundreds of children and their family members participating. Confirmation consists of two ceremonies on one day, and there are up to 16 first communion ceremonies, two large community celebrations and smaller family celebrations at regular Masses.

"Logistically, I’m used to being able to micromanage," Catabui said. "I can’t look at everything under a microscope. But, there are so many volunteers that blow me out of the water with their knowledge." There are more than 180 adult volunteers serving as catechists.

So, while the biggest challenge of her job is the large size of the parish, the size of the parish and number of volunteers is also the greatest asset to the children.