Saints by Our Side

Goal
This intergenerational parish event will foster community by bringing people of all ages together to “meet” the saints and grow in an understanding of the role that the saints play in the life of the Church and in our own lives. The saints are role models, the heroes of our faith. But they also were real people. Participants will learn how saints can support them on their everyday spiritual journey, and how we all have the potential to be saints.

This event is ideal for All Saints Day, but it would be engaging at any time of year. It is a particularly fruitful event for young people who are preparing for Confirmation and is a great way to involve people who may not always participate in parish activities. Parishioners of all ages can make a valuable contribution to your catechetical mission by assisting with and attending this event.

Overview
Saints by Our Side offers a fresh and meaningful learning opportunity for all ages. An event index at the end of this page has links to printable instructions and materials to download for each part of this event. The program has three parts:

1. Presentation (25 to 30 minutes)
   The event begins with a presentation about what it means to be a saint in the Catholic Church and how we can turn to the saints for help in our lives. The presentation includes interviews with two familiar saints and with two blesseds whose names may be new to participants.
    
2. Activity Centers (45 to 50 minutes)
   After the presentation, participants will enjoy a variety of hands-on learning and community-building activity centers. In these activity centers, participants can find their patron saints, play a game called "Meet Your Match," make Saint Clips, and enjoy a snack of trail mix.
    
3. Prayer Service (5 to 10 minutes)
   Saints by Our Side concludes with a short prayer service. Gather your participants together for prayer and song in celebration of the saints.

Take-Home Kits
The event also includes Take-Home Kits filled with resources that families can use to deepen their knowledge of the saints and their relationship with them.

Getting Started
To make organizing your parish event easier, we have put together the following resources:

Preparation Timeline

Bulletin Announcement

Publicity Flier (one editable Microsoft Word document and one printable PDF)

Resources to Download
The Event Index at the bottom of this page provides links to view instructions for each part of this event. These instruction pages provide access to all downloadable handouts, leader guides, and other documents needed. You can choose to download each resource individually; or, if you prefer, click the link below to download all presentation and handout materials at once to create a master packet. This is a large file and may take a few minutes to download, depending on your Internet connection speed.

To make organizing the handouts, leader guides, and other documents for this event easier, we have included a printable Index of Downloads. This document tells you which resources go with which part of the event, how many pages each is, and how many copies you will need. Note: this document is included in the Master Packet download above.

Event Index
Click to view instructions for each part of the event.