Ever since Vatican II there has been major confusion about the Sacrament of Confirmation, what it is, when it should be celebrated and if it isn’t already celebrated when a baby is smeared with Sacred Chrism at his baptism.
Some dioceses have put the three sacraments of Initiation together, like the Eastern Churches, baptism, confirmation and Holy Eucharist offered at infancy.
Other dioceses have combined Confirmation with First Holy Communion normally in the Second grade.
Most dioceses celebrate Confirmation in the 8th grade, others earlier and still others later, like the 10th grade.
Most dioceses use the Sacrament of Confirmation as a hook to keep kids in catechetical programs.
And now Baltimore is mandating that Confirmation be celebrated at the age of 9 years old, or grade 4.
I was confirmed in 1962, prior to Vatican II, in the 4th grade at the age of 8.
But, with Americans highly mobile, moving from diocese to diocese, state to state, many kids miss Confirmation because of the various ages that each bishop mandates.
Let’s follow Baltimore’s lead. Put it back to the 4th grade and nationally! Let’s go back to the Pre-Vatican II custom in this country! At least there is no post-Vatican II confusion about anything!
9 comments:
"Ever since Vatican II there has been major confusion about the Sacrament of Confirmation,..."
The confusion pre-dates Vatican Two by centuries.
The Western Church began to separate the chrismation/confirmation from time of initiation in the fifth century. Since that time, we have had what one author has called "Confirmation: A Sacrament in Search of a Theology."
Restore the proper, historic order, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and all will be well. And why wait till 4th grade or age nine?
Celebrate the three sacraments of initiation together at.... INITIATION!
Always entertaining to hear from Father Snark.
I was confirmed in second grade at age 7. I probably knew more about the Church and its sacraments then than the typical adult today. I was the only one to answer one of the bishop's questions posed to the confirmandi!
In illo tempore, bishops, exclusively, confirmed us in the Faith. Nowadays that privilege is foisted to pastors and their assistants. Bishops have more important things to do like attending semiannual meetings in ritzy hotels. Pre-Vat II, bishops made pastoral "visitations" to each parish every three years. These visits from our high-priest caused much planning and excitement, culminating in an elaborate Confirmation ceremony.
For the record, I was confirmed in our parish church (Our Lady of Good Council, Verona, NY) by our Auxiliary Bishop when I was in 10th grade. This was the common approach at that time (1964) to all the dioceses in upstate New York.
Seems to me either infancy or just before Holy Communion makes the most sense for Confirmation, given the Church's theology of the Sacrament and historical practice. The Easterns do the former without any disaster befalling. Interestingly, a bishop cannot refuse Confirmation to someone under his authority, even if the confirmand is below the usual age in his diocese, so long as the individual is baptized, above the age of reason, has been suitably instructed, is properly disposed, and can renew his or her baptismal promises. This is based on the fundamental right of the faithful to receive the Sacraments when they are not prohibited by canon law from doing so. The Congregation for Divine Worship has even noted concern regarding depriving those individuals of the graces of Confirmation simply because they're not "old enough."
The worst option, imho, is high school--it's a misguided (and cynical?) effort at keeping kids in faith formation classes/youth groups, when there are many other ways to do so--the most obvious being, don't make your classes and groups mind-numbing, cringeworthy slop. (Having been through the program more recently than probably anyone commenting here, that's simply what they all too often are. Ask the vast majority of teens I attended with what they thought, if you can find them; they stopped going to church pretty much as soon as they no longer had to go to be confirmed.)
And too often high-school aged Confirmation becomes a Methodist-style "personal choice affirming your faith" and/or a Catholic church graduation, neither of which is the Catholic understanding of the meaning and effect of the Sacrament.
Nick
Nick, excellent analysis. Funny story involving my very outspoken eldest daughter. She was in high school preparing for Confirmation. The teacher was railing against the "old Latin Mass." This was gratuitous because most kids in my daughter's class never would never have experienced one. I guess she was trying to show the class how cool and with it she was. My daughter piped up, saying quite truthfully, "I was just at the Mass in Latin last Sunday in downtown Chicago and I thought it was a better worship experience than what we have in our parish." The teacher was apoplectic. Today, my daughter is in charge of recruiting for an international securities firm and has a Harvard MBA. She does not suffer fools lightly.
When the west separated chrismation from the other two sacraments of initiation, we set it adrift theologically.
As a result we have "invented" descriptions of the purpose of the sacrament to fill the vacuum. It is a sacrament of becoming an adult in the Church akin to the bar/bat mitzvah in Judaism. (NOT!) It makes one a soldier for Christ. (NOT) It is a sacrament in which the confirmand affirms his/her faith. (NOT) It "completes" initiation. (NOT) Holy Communion completes initiation, but the west has screwed up the proper order.
I agree with Fr. MJK. It's time the Church breaths with both lungs simultaneously and administers the Sacraments of Initiation all at once at the same time. After all, isn't that what we do with adult converts at the Easter Vigil. I think about the Antiphon, "As new born babes..." If newly Baptized adults are considered as newborns why don't we just treat infants in the same way!
When I was a kid (pre-Vatican II), per Canon Law, the bishop was required to visit each parish at least once every five years. That's when he Confirmed. So, everyone, including adults (no OCIA back then) who received First Communion but not yet confirmed, were on his visit. So there were varying ages. So I happened to be 11 years old in the fifth grade.
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