Excellent point…but we’ve have little or no refusal if they’re actually in classes. And it’s that refusal to participate in religious ed that I’m speaking of.
I hope you’re right.
Oh I get what you’re saying…we don’t push it as a reward. We just teach. You have to have students show up to teach. That’s what I’m talking about. None of these kids would have ever returned for ongoing formation otherwise. They don’t leave immediately afterward, like they do for First Communion. Teen classes are over 75 hours of regular formation, which they are required to have to be eligible for Confirmation class which are another 25 hours plus a 3 day retreat. They leave on fire for the faith, eager to return and do more. This past year our Confirmation class of 43 kids did almost 2000 hours of community service. You don’t do that kind of work and not come away changed, and eager to keep service as part of your life. Many of their parents don’t do any service work, but these children are learning that it’s also a part of their life’s work, like continuing ed in their faith. We’ve had many seeking vocations as a result.
Our middle and high school programs are awesome, and we’ve had several young men and women try their vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
First. There in no such thing as a “LifeTeen Mass”.The points of discussion on this thread are exactly the sorts of discussions being held by people in our parish right now. And it’s wonderful to see people actually asking questions about things they’ve just taken for granted for all these years.
I think just about every point brought up here is valid and has some truth in it:
When families live their faith at home, the children are – statistically – more likely to remain in the faith.
Some young people only come to mass and religious education for the year or two required for each sacrament.
Some people will leave the practice of the faith after confirmation – regardless of when they receive the sacrament.
Some parishes will see an uptick in teen involvement.
Some parishes will see teen involvement decline.
I think it’s interesting as a musician who has been deeply involved in a number of parishes over recent years, to see the wide variety of what people are absolutely convinced is not only the best way to reach youth, but sometimes even the only way to reach youth.
One pastor required confirmation students to attend the LifeTeen mass – even though some of them sang in the choir or were lectors at a different mass, because they hated the performance-style music and the emphasis on the horizontal rather than the vertical nature of the LifeTeen mass (the number of these kids was small but significant). So many of the kids in that parish DID stick around after confirmation (whether they liked LifeTeen or not) and continued to be involved and grow in their faith
At my current parish, the confirmation students are required to attend the mass I play at – with seven altar servers (mostly teenage boys) in cassock and surplice, incense, Latin chants, ;polyphony, traditional hymns. The other masses are much more contemporary in nature, but this very traditional mass is the required one.
Of course, the order and timing of sacraments is not our decision. We will be obedient.
The main thing, I think, is that the folks in charge run with this new way of doing things – setting up powerful programs of sacramental preparation, and setting up powerful programs for children and families AFTER confirmation. But I guarantee that if we all focus on how this is going to fail, we’ll be a major factor in that failure by our own attitudes. :sad_yes:
And as I am completely on board with the upcoming changes, I guess it’s time to put my name in as a catechist
God bless you all!
Gertie
Exactly!
Eastern Catholics have a separate code of canon law.
That is interesting. Are there validly ordained Catholic bishops whom you do not consider “truly anointed”?
Actually, back in the day, Life Teen Masses came packaged with all their own little signature abuses, like the one where the faithful were encouraged to contradict the minister who says “the Mass is ended…” naturally, these were all reprobated eventually, and I don’t know the current state of things, but not much would surprise me.
In Francophone Canada, until the late 60s, Confirmation was often celebrated in 2nd or 3rd grade. Five or six years later, after much more catechesis, we made our “Solemn Communion,” a tradition that started in France shortly after Pope Pius X allowed First Communion at the age of reason. In my diocese Solemn Communion disappeared around the time Confirmation was pushed back to the teen years.
How about vocational discernment? The time between age of reason and age of majority is best spent trying to hear that call which will shape the rest of their lives. They would benefit from talks on chastity, priestly ministry, the consecrated life, marriage preparation.
I have never understood having the sacrament of confirmation done at baptism as an infant. The Easter Rite church does this (as far as I know). I don’t understand why the sacrament would be done when the individual can better understand the faith. If it is done at baptism, what exactly is being confirmed?
That is one of the problems with having confirmation during the teen years. People believe it is about them confirming their belief. It has become something like a rite of passage or has become something like a Catholic version of bar/bat mitzvah. That is not what confirmation is. Confirmation is not about us confirming our beliefs or become adults in the faith.
Hello Usige. Thank you for the explanation. However, regarding the federal judge analogy: if a judge has no knowledge of the law, and if asked questions about law, etc. could not provide any answers, would congress confirm them? I would think they wouldn’t. In baptism, the god parents vouch for the child and commit to helping education the child in the faith (along with the parents and the rest of the community). But what meaning does confirmation have when done at baptism? What does it add?