Daughter has a question

[Phemie]

When we have a convert, we give formation so they will understand the their relationship with Christ and the Church they are joining. They dicsern and make a personal decision and commitment to the faith.
I have seen class after class of confirmed, but only see far fewer continue a full commitment to the Lord and the faith. After years of watching this and even see them leave the church when they reach their 20’s I have seen that more need to be done to install a love for Christ and a love for His Church and not just to give the sacrament because they have reached a proper age.
Yes there is effications reception of the sacrament, but if not fully understood and comprendended as well as being being entered into with one’s own free will, it becomes a gift that can not be fully used for their continuing faith life.

Would you say the same about Communion? If not, why not? I ask because the Church sees Communion as the final sacrament of initiation, not the second. That’s where our commitment to the Church comes into play.

 

[puzzleannie]

maybe she finds the thought of the actual confirmation mass nerve wrecking and shes avoiding it because of that…some people get nervous if they have to be on display in public, and her confirmation is one time when she will be on display with the whole church watching

good luck with the whole church watching, beyond the first two rows nobody can see anything anyhow so that should relieve anyone’s fears on that score.

If she says she is not ready then she is not ready. Parents, pastor and catechists have the obligation to prepare them and bring them to the sacrament at the proper age, which is set by the bishop, not the parents or candidate. But no one can force her to receive the sacrament. She deserves however to know that saying no is a rejection of an invitation from the whole Church to complete her baptism, invoke the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to serve the Church through her life’s vocation be it to religious life, marriage or single lay witness.

It is not necessary to have a deep knowledge of doctrine, but it is necessary to be able to intelligently make a profession of faith. It is not necessary to fully understand and embrace each and every aspect Church teaching, but it is necessary to accept that the Catholic Church into which she has been baptized is the one and only Church founded by Jesus Christ and in whom His Mystical Body is today made present on Earth, and that she teaches the fullness of truth, revealed by Him, through the Holy Spirit. It is not necessary to be holy, strong, wise, or pious to be confirmed, but it is necessary to be humble in asking the Holy Spirit to confer these gifts in the sacrament.

Yes she can receive communion if she is otherwise in a state of grace, but she does have the obligation to continue her faith formation and to actively seek answers to her questions about the faith. She also needs to know that not to accept the invitation when the bishop extends it is not just a “wait and see” it is a rejection of the Church and her authority vested in the bishop.

 

[jpjd]

Five stars for that answer, Puzzleannie!

 

[JimG]

I received the sacrament of Confirmation in the 4th Grade at the age of 9, along with many others. Yes, we were adequately catechized, we understood the sacrament, and we did and were accustomed to making a profession of Faith.

The order of reception of sacraments is not up to me, but I am glad that we were blessed with the sacramental graces of Confirmation before entering into our turbulent adolescent years.

 

[Phemie]

I received the sacrament of Confirmation in the 4th Grade at the age of 9, along with many others. Yes, we were adequately catechized, we understood the sacrament, and we did and were accustomed to making a profession of Faith.

The order of reception of sacraments is not up to me, but I am glad that we were blessed with the sacramental graces of Confirmation before entering into our turbulent adolescent years.

I was 7, at the end of 2nd grade. Like you, we understood about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and we’d been in church most of our young lives. The Creed was something we understood, at our level. In fact, the Bishop thought we were old enough to take the Pledge, so at the age of 7 I promised to not drink alcohol until I was 21. Sorry to say that’s one promise I didn’t keep.

One kid refused to take the Pledge, telling his mother “What if I get married before I’m 21? I want to be able to drink champagne when I get married!”

 

[JimG]

I was 7, at the end of 2nd grade. Like you, we understood about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and we’d been in church most of our young lives. The Creed was something we understood, at our level. In fact, the Bishop thought we were old enough to take the Pledge, so at the age of 7 I promised to not drink alcohol until I was 21. Sorry to say that’s one promise I didn’t keep.

One kid refused to take the Pledge, telling his mother “What if I get married before I’m 21? I want to be able to drink champagne when I get married!”

Smart kid. Getting married before age 21 was not that uncommon! But I never even heard of the Pledge.

 

[Phemie]

Smart kid. Getting married before age 21 was not that uncommon! But I never even heard of the Pledge.

Comes from the Irish “Cork Total Asbstinence Society” founded in 1838 by Theobald Mathew, a Capuchin priest.

I promise to abstain from all intoxicating drinks except used medicinally and by order of a medical man and to discountenance the cause and practice of intemperance

One could ‘take the Pledge’ for a month, or three, or for any length of time and do so repeatedly. I know back home it was common in the mid-twentieth century for men to ‘take the Pledge’ when they went on retreats.

 

[1ke]

When we have a convert, we give formation so they will understand the their relationship with Christ and the Church they are joining. They dicsern and make a personal decision and commitment to the faith.

Yes, because they are binding themselves under the pain of sin to the laws of the Church and obedience to her. A person baptized into the Catholic Church is already bound via their baptism. See canon 11.

The “personal committment” doesn’t have anything to do with confirmation. It is the profession of faith, where they specifically profess that they wish to unite with the Catholic Church, that they become bound to the laws of the Church. This is the committment.

Confirmation may be in proximity to this profession of faith, or it may not be.

I have seen class after class of confirmed, but only see far fewer continue a full commitment to the Lord and the faith. After years of watching this and even see them leave the church when they reach their 20’s I have seen that more need to be done to install a love for Christ and a love for His Church and not just to give the sacrament because they have reached a proper age. Yes there is effications reception of the sacrament, but if not fully understood and comprendended as well as being being entered into with one’s own free will, it becomes a gift that can not be fully used for their continuing faith life.

They receive the Holy Spirit at baptism This installation of love for Christ starts then. If their parents fail in doing this, you cannot fix it in a confirmation program.

 

[FAB]

Yes, because they are binding themselves under the pain of sin to the laws of the Church and obedience to her. A person baptized into the Catholic Church is already bound via their baptism. See canon 11.

The “personal committment” doesn’t have anything to do with confirmation. It is the profession of faith, where they specifically profess that they wish to unite with the Catholic Church, that they become bound to the laws of the Church. This is the committment.

Confirmation may be in proximity to this profession of faith, or it may not be.

They receive the Holy Spirit at baptism This installation of love for Christ starts then. If their parents fail in doing this, you cannot fix it in a confirmation program.

A lot can be done in the confirmation program to install understanding and love of Christ and the Church. and yes a person can choose, you know free will, not to be confirmed or to wait.

 

[Dave_H]

Thanks all:
We live in Ontario Canada and my daughter is 12 and going into gr 8 this fall.
Having mentioned your comments to her she still wants to wait and after reading your comments and looking at the cathecism I still support her decision and have let her know that.
Thanks again
God Bless