Confirmation preparation

[pmcleanj]

I know we're still in the middle of Lent, but if I don't stay on top of things I find decades fly by and the patch on the back-kitchen wall where I plastered over a hole when Anne was a toddler still isn't painted yet.

So Pentecost is coming in "only" 75 days. And Pentecost is also customarily called Whitsunday because of the tradition of holding confirmations on that day, with all the confirmands (at least the female ones) in their pure white dresses. So...

When does your diocese schedule confirmations nowadays? Rachel finished her confirmation classes a year ago now, and the priest still hasn't been able to give us a date when she can be confirmed. There was a confirmation last November but her catechist forgot to submit her name for it. Not, I suppose, that there's much we can do but wait patiently...

 

[karen freeinchristman]

Ours does confirmations in late November/early December, usually.

Does your daughter partake in HC already, though? Does your church do that? I think that would be a good thing - to allow children to partake and not wait for confirmation. That's a different topic, though, I guess.

 

[pmcleanj]

Ours does confirmations in late November/early December, usually.

Does your daughter partake in HC already, though? Does your church do that? I think that would be a good thing - to allow children to partake and not wait for confirmation. That's a different topic, though, I guess.

In Canada, "communion of the Baptized" is the norm. Anne and Rachel both received their first Holy Communion at their baptisms, administered in the form of a drop of wine and a crumb of bread on the tip of a silver spoon. They can't remember a time when they weren't communicants. It's a good point: confirmation is less urgent I suppose when one already has access to the Sacrament.

Is there a reason for the November/December time-frame? Of course, it's nice to have the confirmation service in the parish instead of at the Cathedral, so if that's the case you have to do it when the Bishop makes his or her visit whenever it happens to be scheduled. It's just a coincidence perhaps that our last confirmation was in the same time-frame. What seems to happen here is that three or four parishes group together and hold an evening service on a Sunday, and pool their confirmation classes: I'd guess that takes some of the pressure off the Bishop to visit each individual parish solely for the purpose of confirming the confirmands. It should allow for a little more flexibility in scheduling, though. It's not, alas, like we have thousands of youth seeking confirmation every year!

 

[karen freeinchristman]

Yes, I think the Nov/Dec is due to the Bishop's visitation schedule.

We usually have around 3-5 confirmands each year. Usually 1 adult, too.

 

[Timothy]

We tend to do it whenever the Bishop visits us and we have sufficient candidates. The Bishop visits at least once a year, if not more--some years we've seen two or three visits from the Bishop. Yeah, we're a tiny diocese.

Tim

 

[norbie]

In Canada, "communion of the Baptized" is the norm. Anne and Rachel both received their first Holy Communion at their baptisms, administered in the form of a drop of wine and a crumb of bread on the tip of a silver spoon. They can't remember a time when they weren't communicants. It's a good point: confirmation is less urgent I suppose when one already has access to the Sacrament.

Is there a reason for the November/December time-frame? Of course, it's nice to have the confirmation service in the parish instead of at the Cathedral, so if that's the case you have to do it when the Bishop makes his or her visit whenever it happens to be scheduled. It's just a coincidence perhaps that our last confirmation was in the same time-frame. What seems to happen here is that three or four parishes group together and hold an evening service on a Sunday, and pool their confirmation classes: I'd guess that takes some of the pressure off the Bishop to visit each individual parish solely for the purpose of confirming the confirmands. It should allow for a little more flexibility in scheduling, though. It's not, alas, like we have thousands of youth seeking confirmation every year!

Your church is doing a right thing there. I can't get through this in our church. I realy agree that children should be able to have Hl.Communion before being confirmed. I can see this when I am on roster as a Chalic Assistant: this children getting emparrased to just kneel there and get the blessing only. This is one thing I agree with the Cath. Church: first Hl. Communion at grade 2 and Confirmation after 14 years of age.

 

[Tawny]

We have one service a year, usually around June and it moves around the team. Last year one of my Guides was confirmed and she invited me, it was lovely.

Here we don't take communion until they are confirmed, average age is 12/13

 

[Inside Edge]

Usually one service per year in one of the Cathedrals (our Diocese sort of has 2). The timing varies, and I think it mostly has to do with the travel schedule of the Bishop. I was confirmed 2 years ago, and it was on Pentecost, at the "Main" cathedral. If there aren't many up for confirmation in a year, it is held at the other, 'secondary' cathedral.

 

[pmcleanj]

I heard back from our Priest -- it looks like there will be something scheduled for late April or early June -- maybe even Whitsunday! (I do love it when liturgically appropriate tradition is maintained.) Probably a joint service with other parishes. So now I can start designing a dress ...

He also had some helpful suggestions on finding a spiritual director locally.