The Sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated for all students during the seasons of Advent and Lent. This Sacrament is available for any student at any time with the Campus Ministry Center Chaplain.
Although preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation is specifically a parish program, the school is to make every effort to encourage and support students and their parents/guardians to participate in their parish Confirmation program (see “Confirmation Program" under Topic 4.1.10 Faith Formation and Youth Ministry for High School-Age Students in the ADLA Administrative Handbook).
Policy Regarding the Celebration and Reception of the Sacrament of Eucharist
As a Catholic school community, Bishop Alemany High School regularly celebrates the Catholic Mass of the Holy Eucharist. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us:
1323 “At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. This He did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us."
1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life." “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist it contains the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."
With these teachings in mind, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our community life at Bishop Alemany. Our Eucharistic celebrations are moments in which we participate in the life of the larger world Church and in the life of Christ. We lift our prayers with and for each other. We acknowledge our need for and our reception of our Savior. We receive the nourishment that the Lord offers us as we become that which we receive, bread for the world in the Body of Christ. At the Mass, we express our thanksgiving, the very meaning of the word Eucharist.
The Bishop Alemany community rightfully expects that all members of the community are present and participatory at our Eucharistic celebrations, including those of us who are well-Churched and those who are not, and those of us who are Catholic and those who are of other faiths. The basic expectation is that all are respectful and prayerful throughout the celebrations, following the norms of the Church.
Regarding the reception of the Sacrament, the Body and Blood of the Eucharist is only to be received by baptized Catholics who have received their First Communion at their parishes, who are in the state of grace with God, and who have observed the required fast.
For the non-Catholic members of our community, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidelines for receiving Communion state: “We also welcome to this celebration those who do not share our Faith in Jesus Christ. While we cannot admit them to Communion, we ask them to offer their prayers for the peace and the unity of the human family. … (Further) Because they have not received Baptism, the gateway to the other Sacraments, non-Christians cannot receive Communion."
Student Discipline Policy Regarding the Celebration and Reception of the Eucharist
Disruptions or demonstrations of disrespect at Eucharistic celebrations counter the very Catholic Identity of Bishop Alemany High School and, therefore, they will be treated seriously by the Deans of Discipline according to the school disciplinary procedures listed in this Handbook. Further, students who willfully act to desecrate the Eucharist in any way, including but not limited to the taking of the Eucharist for any reason other than prayerful and contrite reception of its grace, will be recommended to the Disciplinary Board for dismissal from the school community.
