Confirmation for unbelieving kids/teens?

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Tis_Bearself said:
But I thought it was so you could take your place as an adult member of the Church, like you were consciously affirming your baptism because you couldn’t do that as a baby.
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That unfortunately is how it was (and sometimes still is) presented. There are still many confirmation catechist who present it as confirming your belief in the Church and something of a right of passage into being an adult in the church.

That whole misapplying it as a rite of adulthood is one of several reasons why I pray more bishops will move confirmation back to second grade with first Eucharist to follow.
 
If the parents are Catholic there is always pressure from the parents. My daughter feels pressure from me to finish her school work as well. Does she willingly graduate?
 
Tis_Bearself said:
But I thought it was so you could take your place as an adult member of the Church, like you were consciously affirming your baptism because you couldn’t do that as a baby.
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This is why I thought Confirmation was as well. It wasn’t until a few years after college when I decided to read the Catechism because I was noticing I misunderstood other things that I learned otherwise. I got to the section about Confirmation while I was at a Holy Hour and paused going, “Wait, what? That’s what it is! No wonder I had to list out the gifts of the Holy Spirit when I had my one-on-one interview with the priest.”
 
If the priest has no knowledge of the state of mind of the conformant, then obviously there is nothing to blame him for. The question is, did the parents know? If they didn’t know either there isn’t any blame on them. If they did know then they were pursuing it for their own sense of pride, no? I realize it’s very hard when their children reject the faith but forcing them to go through with it thinking it will fix the problem or make them look bad in the community isn’t of benefit to anyone. It usually just causes resentment in the child.
 
It does matter. If you’re not receptive to the graces and/or not in a state of grace at the time that confirmation is conferred, you still receive the sacrament, but the graces, the fruits, are “inactive” until such time as you are restored to grace and choose to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. There is no need to be re-confirmed.

Back to the issue of the OP…this is a strong argument for returning to the traditional ordering for the sacraments (as some dioceses have done). Delaying confirmation so long is just silly. First communion before confirmation makes no sense theologically…
 
Father,
I always assumed you were a Latin priest…but are you actually an Eastern Catholic priest??
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I don’t remember any such interview with Confirmation candidates being done in my day.
Perhaps the practices vary by diocese.
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I was received into the Church when I was 18 (convert from Protestantism). Prior to my confirmation, I met one on one with the priest about once a week for a year :). He emphasized again and again that what I was preparing to do was akin to getting married and had to be taken equally seriously.
 
I am a Latin. My goddaughter and her family are easterners though.
 
I was not a convert, but rather a cradle in my 7th year of Catholic school at the time of my confirmation.
Almost all of us kids had been in the same school for the whole 7 years, and the priests and nuns knew all of us pretty well by then, and also knew our parents, siblings etc.

I’m not sure if there was some interview conducted for persons who were converting or who were only attending the CCD instruction a couple hours a week.
 
Basically, it’s like riding the most amazing, thrilling, best rollers coaster in the world; asleep.

What exactly is valid if the person never acknowledges God?
 
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From my knowledge, sacramental validity is not always affected by the intention of the one receiving. If a priest who does not truly believe in the Real Presence consecrates the host it still becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. I think. That’s what I’ve heard anyway.
 
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