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ST. EDWARD'S, CLIFTON PARK

Faith formation program deluged with newcomers

Six second-grade boys sat together at a table - some with a severe case of the giggles, others keeping to themselves. Mean-while, Rose Savallo patiently led them in discussing a word so complex that it took the boys a few tries before they were able to pronounce it correctly.

"What does reconciliation mean?" she asked the boys.

After thinking long and hard, Ethan thought he knew the answer.

"When you go to the priest and tell him you're sorry when you do something bad," he said.

Though this particular class only had six students, it's a rarity for faith formation classes at St. Edward the Confessor parish in Clifton Park to be this small. Next door and down the hall, classrooms were filled with second-graders, all preparing to make their first reconciliation and First Communion.

While most churches in the Albany Diocese are struggling to add 200 new parishioners, St. Edward's has added 200 children this year to its faith formation program alone, bringing the total number of students in religious education there to 1,400.

Skyrocketing
"We've always had a high population that's been consistent and we've always had some kind of growth," said Gene Kelenski, director of religious education at St. Edward's. "But this past year, our program was changed from pre-K through [grade] 11 to pre-K through [grade] 10. As a result, we dropped close to 130 kids - and, still, we picked up 230 new ones."

St. Edward's has always brought in families from the Clifton Park area all the way up through Ballston Lake. How-ever, with parish closings in Cohoes, Mechanicville and other areas close by, many parishioners have chosen St. Edward's as their new place of worship.

The growth of the faith formation program can be seen in the parish's second-grade level alone. In 2008-'09, 180 children were enrolled for second-grade religious education - and it could have been more.

"Last year, we had too many kids and we had to turn away some members," explained Mrs. Savallo, the sacramental coordinator at St. Edward's. "So, this year, we had to put some of the third-graders in the second-grade program because they weren't here last year - and this year, again, we have 180 kids in the second-grade program."

Mr. Kelenski also attributes the program's growth to the growth of business in the area.

"People have been calling from all over the United States" with questions about enrolling children in faith formation, he said. "I've gotten calls from Michigan, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana and places all over the place. It's mostly families coming into the area for business reasons and employment."

Mr. Kelenski pointed to the new Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) plant being built in Malta and the G.E. Silicones plant in Waterford as providing jobs for new families coming into the area.

"They're looking for a family-oriented community," he said. "They've been finding our website and they seem to like what we have to offer."

What makes not only the parish, but the faith formation program itself so appealing to families? "I think its two things," Mrs. Savallo said: "one, we listen to the families in the program and we try to accommodate them; and two, Father Pat [Butler's] theme of community is big with the parish. It's about reaching out beyond the parish and inviting outside groups for fundraisers and picnics and things like that."

"Our concentration on our young families and our kids is, I think, what's drawing them," Mr. Kelenski added. The newcomers "tend to be families with children of elementary [school] ages. But, at the same time, we tell them, 'Before you even decide is this the right fit for you, come visit us and try things out and see what you think.' We let them decide for themselves."

Back in the faith formation class, it seemed the students were also being given leeway to make decisions for themselves.

"Say after you finish dinner your parents tell you to wash your hands and get ready for bed, but instead you go get your Wii and play video games. Is that a reason to go to reconciliation?" Mrs. Savallo asked the boys.

"I think I would," admitted a student named Joey. "But it's close. I'd say it's 51/49."

(10/15/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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