WHAT IS PRE?
PRE or Parish Religious Education is the program at our parish that we offer to supplement the faith formation of your children. Supplement is an important word here, children must first learn their faith at home. An hour a week (or two if you include weekly Mass attendance) is not enough to impart the depth, importance, and values of our Catholic faith.
YOUR CHILD'S FATIH STARTS WITH YOU
Of course, how can we expect parents to foster the faith of their children if they themselves were never ministered to? This is the situation we find ourselves in as a Church. It is so vital that you feed your own faith! To that end, here is a list of resources and ideas to help you grow in your faith.
- Attend our Catholic 101 classes! There is no commitment and it's a great way to brush up on your faith. Catholic 101 is not just for those entering the Catholic Church. They are for anyone! Click here to learn more about Catholic 101.
- Adopt a prayer schedule! There are so many ways to pray, one of the easiest is simple conversational prayer. Begin and end your day with a simple "Jesus, I love you more than anything. Help me to do what you want me to do." Check out our Ways to Pray page here.
- Receive the Sacraments! Our Faith begins and ends with the Sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist. Confession is the outpouring of God's mercy and the Eucharist is Jesus under the disguise of bread so that we may consume Him and receive all of His love.
- Show your faith to your children! We cannot be shy with our faith, what is important to us is important to our children. Make time to pray, prioritize weekly Mass and regular Confession. Show them how to have a relationship with Jesus (once you receive it from Jesus of course! You cannot give what you do not have.)
WHY DO WE HAVE PRE?
Our goal for PRE is simple, we want to support our parents as they raise their children in the Catholic faith.
No religious education program will ever substitute for parents living and teaching their faith at home. However, we realize that this can be daunting, especially if parents don't feel at home themselves in the faith that they were raised in. PRE is supposed to be a place where discussions of faith can begin, and then continue on at home while hopefully inspiring a deeper examination of faith for everyone in the Family!
PRE serves to put your children in a positive, faith filled environment where they can learn to encounter Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Him. We also want to provide resources for our parents to grow in relationship with Him and come to know the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church.
Pricing
- K-8th Grade: $80 per child, up to $150 per family
PRE Sign Up
Please Note: You will need to sign up young adults who want to attend youth group in the same way that you register K-8 students in our Religious Education Program.
Signing up for PRE is a simple three step process!
STEP 1: FLOCKNOTE REGISTRATION
We use Flocknote for all of our updates, reminders, and important communications.
If you do not have a Flocknote account, please click here to create one. If you do, please click here to sign in. Then, on the left hand side of the screen, click on the group "SJtB PRE 2024/25" and then in the top right of the screen click the green "Join Group Button."
STEP 2: ONLINE REGISTRATION
Please visit our ParishSOFT website, this is a new step for St. John the Baptist Religious Ed this year. On the left hand side click "Family Education." At the top of the screen will be a button that says "Online Registration," click that and follow the prompts. Click here to go to ParishSOFT and log in or create an account.
STEP 3: REGISTRATION FORM AND PAYMENT
Fill out the registration form below and bring your payment to the office.
After submitting your paper registration and fee to the Parish Office, that's it! Now you're registered.
Please reach out to the DRE at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions or need any help.
We Need Volunteers!
We are currently in need of volunteer instructors for our PRE program!
Currently we need the following positions:
- 2nd Grade Assistant
- 6th Grade Assistant
- 7th Grade Assistant
The commitment for PRE is for one year on Wednesday nights for an hour. No need to prepare your own lessons, but creativity is encouraged!
Safe Environment certification is also required. To become Safe Environment certified, you will need to attend an in person class. Certification is good for six years and can be renewed online. Please call the Parish Office for more information about Safe Environment.
Click here to sign up for the next available Safe Environment Class.
Please prayerfully consider sharing your faith with our students in this way. If you feel called to volunteer, please reach out to the DRE at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or call the Parish Office at 402-426-3823. You can also reach out to Theresa Gebhardt.
