Effective Confirmation lesson plans?

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Windfish said:
Do we also agree that Confirmation is about preparing youths to practice their faith into adulthood?
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There is a misunderstanding that Confirmation is somehow like a protestant “believer’s baptism” or a Catholic bar mitzvah.

The Catechism tells us (a couple of snips, the entire article is important.) that the ability to “defend the faith” aka apologetics, is part of the preparation but it is not the whole nor the first:

1302 It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

1303 From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
  • it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, “Abba! Father!”;117
  • it unites us more firmly to Christ;
  • it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
  • it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;118
  • it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:119
Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God’s presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.120

1309 Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union with Christ and a more lively familiarity with the Holy Spirit - his actions, his gifts, and his biddings - in order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life. To this end catechesis for Confirmation should strive to awaken a sense of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ, the universal Church as well as the parish community. The latter bears special responsibility for the preparation of confirmands.
 
Windfish said:
A lot of them are receiving the sacrament, more than likely, because their parents are forcing them to do so. And many of them won’t participate for that very reason. So do we continue merrily along as if we are all believers and answer questions as they come up, or do you actually realize the situation and be proactive?
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This was my experience also. They want to do it so they don’t have to come to catechism any more. It is the end of the suffering for them! Parents want to complete their obligation to raise them in the faith, so everyone just pushes to get it done.

I do think some very basic catechesis is needed, and sometimes that includes some apologetics for kids who have been misled/confused. Most of all, though, evangelization. They need to encounter the risen Christ, and be drawn into relationship with Him.
 
I suppose in an ideal world you wouldn’t have to wait until these young people are attending confirmation prep to teach this, it should be a continuous formation.
 
You are starting to get very defensive here. It appears you have no idea what sacramental prep truly is. How can we ask youth to learn how to defend a faith they barely know?

With your poor opinion of current methods, written by experts and approved by bishops, it may be a wise choice to not become a catechist for youth. I know the statistics, I know how difficult it is to retain young people in the church. Believe me, we work with this all they time and are always trying to find new ways to keep them in the Church. Apologetics for sacramental prep is NOT the answer.

Since you mind is made up already I truly hope you plan to let the youth director know of your plan to teach something that is not approved. Maybe you should put together a young adult group to study & learn apologetics.
 
Windfish said:
80% of Catholic youth leave the Church at 23. If you think the status quo is acceptable after seeing this statistic, I am deeply saddened. I am glad the situation in your dioceses seems to be more stable, however, I assure you that most places in the US right now are not faring so well (see the above statistic).

Apologetics is definitely needed. It’s just a question of how are going to implement it.
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I never said it was acceptable at all. And it is not just in my diocese or parish. All over the country there are youth ministers who are working & developing methods of engaging youth, teaching them the faith, and giving opportunities to encounter Jesus Christ.

As for where they are does not prove the need for apopolgetics, it mean wherever they are in their faith journey, from good understanding of the Church to not knowing who Jesus is, we start from there. How is a kid who doesn’t know who Jesus is learn to defend Him?
 
This is a very strained subject for me. The Diocesan guideline for mine is that “The Archbishop has established that in this Archdiocese the normative age at which those baptized as infants into the Catholic Church receive the Sacrament of Confirmation is the 10th or 11th grade.” So, in my parish, they begin the 2 year formation process in 11th grade, with the Sacrament occurring in the spring of 12th grade. They allow ZERO wiggle room for extenuating circumstances…which in my youngest son’s case, was that he was held back in kindergarten and so was as old as the other 11th graders but still in 10th grade; was on fire for the Lord and ASKED to be Confirmed; and our family situation was such that his older brothers had stopped even going to CCE/Mass by the age of 16. But still the parish said no to him starting in 10th. He is now almost 18 and has stopped going to Mass and has no interest in being in Confirmation. When the time was ripe, the parish refused to help, and it pains me to no end! I literally begged them, and they still wouldn’t budge!!
Can anyone with any Confirmation prep experience tell me why??
 
I will try to reply to everyone in this post, so please bear with me.

There seems to be some misunderstanding going on in this conversation. Earlier in the thread, I defined apologetics as “explaining what we believe and why we believe it.” Horton, you seem to think that I want youths to become apologists. Quite right, how can I expect young Catholics to defend the faith if they do not know it? But that is not what I want nor what I expect. I entirely agree that they do not know the faith, but where we seem to disagree is how to best teach them the faith.

I think we need to teach the faith to them in such a way that answers the problems and challenges they face in our current age, lest they become part of that 80% of Catholic youths who leave the faith. So. This would involve not only explaining the faith to them but also why we believe it, giving them a rational basis for it. This is what I call apologetics.

Horton, so with all that said, do you still think the above is not appropriate? If you still think this, I would like to know how you propose we deal with the staggering reality of apostasy. I really would like to know. If you say to follow diocesan directives and nothing else, how is this NOT the status quo that is abiding this staggering reality in the first place? It does not seem to me like that is a solution.

1ke, I know quite a few teenagers. I know what they are exposed to and how their minds are being shaped. I am glad the teenagers you know are faithful, but are you going to just ignore that 80% of young Catholics leave the faith at 23? How do YOU propose we stem that? Because clearly, the status quo is not working.
 
RandomAlias, I came here to get a sense of what others are doing and seeing what works. That was my motivation, initially. It seems that a few here are quite happy with the status quo, but I see something very, very different. They say that their strategies are working, and while I am perfectly willing to take them at their word, I also think there are some serious misgivings about the long-term effectiveness of these programs that they cannot possibly see. Let’s go down 5, 10 years - are these Catholic youths still practicing? Statistics suggest that the vast majority of them are not.

So now my motivation in this thread has added to it to try to persuade people that there is a problem and that our current strategies are not working.

Now, relevant to TheLittleLady’s post, Confirmation is precisely the perfect place to address this. On practical terms, you get a larger, captive audience. And on spiritual terms, it makes total sense: Confirmation is a perfection of our baptism, where we confess and renew our faith and then receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can go out and the meet the world, just as the apostles did at Pentecost. In order so that they can make that confession of faith and put those supernatural gifts to good use, doesn’t it make sense to disarm their apprehensions toward faith, give them a rational basis, and then teach them the faith?

I know these programs. Do they address what kids are exposed to, and do they talk about the things they really want to know in a way that is not patronizing? Absolutely not. Kids are exposed to the Joe Rogan Podcast, to Thunderf00t, to Sargon of Akkad, to Philip DeFranco, to The Amazing Atheist, and other “skeptics.” They are exposed to Lindsay Ellis, The Game Grumps, PewDiePie, ContraPoints, NeoGAF, Reddit, and other “progressive” propaganda. These are the things they are watching and hearing on their phones, their tablets, and in their media.

Teaching them the order of the Mass and other basics is fine and even necessary, but it’s not enough.
 
Bishop Barron, my local ordinary, just put out a video that touches on apologetics.


^Everything he says is exactly my point of view on how we must present the faith to young people.
 
In a phrase, because they can.

It is so sad to see things like this happen.

Did you actually talk to your pastor, or was did this come from your DRE.
Many times, a “cookie cutter approach” for is all that is manageable without the proper man power.
That is no excuse, but it does give you an idea of what catechists are dealing with. Then, if they do it for one family, they have to make an exception for another and then another and finally, there is no standard.
 
Windfish said:
Teaching them the order of the Mass and other basics is fine and even necessary, but it’s not enough.
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It might not be enough, but it is a starting point.
When you don’t even know these things, the how’s & why’s of the faith don’t matter.

I agree that the status quo isn’t working, but it’s because we are trying to teach facts, instead of teaching kids that it is the relationship that is important. With God and with others. That can’t be don’t online, or with videos or textbooks, they have to experience God, in Church and in others. And once they experience the love of God, they will be more open to learning the facts.
 
Have you ever reviewed an approved Confirmation program? Do you even know what is taught? It is far from the order of the Mass and basics, it is so much more including dealing with modern issues.

Check out what is actually is being taught before stating we, who are actually doing this work, are wrong.

https://ascensionpress.com/shop/t/category/study-programs/chosen/confirmation-preparation

https://dynamiccatholic.com/confirmation

You don’t know what we are doing as far as activities, retreats, or our Catholic Youth Convention.

Do you know why 80% leave the church? I know you assume it’s poor catechizes but that is an old tired horse that should be left alone. But have you done any research into why? Some of it is due to cultural reasons. They go through confirmation so they may get married in the church at a later date and have their kids baptized. The only thing we can do with that is try to get them engaged in the Catholic faith and practice to where they don’t want to leave it. Some kids do not have the support at home for practicing the faith. Parents don’t go to Mass and certainly don’t teach the faith in the home.
Windfish said:
So now my motivation in this thread has added to it to try to persuade people that there is a problem and that our current strategies are not working.
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Maybe this should read “to discuss the problem and brainstorm strategies”. No one in youth ministry is lacking awareness of the percentage of young people leaving the Church.
 
Horton said:
Some kids do not have the support at home for practicing the faith. Parents don’t go to Mass and certainly don’t teach the faith in the home.
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This is it in a nutshell.

We made Mass attendance mandatory, and part of our class sessions.
Parents were livid!! 😖
The could not understand why attending Mass was important every week and thought we were expecting too much. :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes:
 
Horton, I am familiar with the programs. My comment about “teaching the basics” is in reference to a comment made by CilladeRoma, who emphasized that the basics should be taught in Confirmation preparation. I happen to agree with this, but I say that it’s not enough. The programs involve much more, I realize this. But the ones I have seen, including Ascension Press’ “Chosen,” are what young people like call “cringe.” By far, the best resources I have seen are those produced by Word on Fire and Bishop Barron. They avoid Protestanty “God-talk,” the kind of speech that sounds platitudinous and empty.

In any case, perhaps we agree more than we think. I think there was a misunderstanding about what apologetics means. When I read that apologetics shouldn’t be a part of any sacramental preparation, I am flabbergasted - that sounds so out-of-touch as to be dangerous. But it does sound as if the programs you are a part of are tackling tough issues.

RandomAlias, sure, here’s an example: many kids do not trust the biblical texts or are very unsure why we should trust them. Well, that’s just asking for trouble if we don’t address that - everything will be undermined if we don’t give assurances. So we need to talk about archaeology, history, some textual analysis, Church fathers, and, most importantly, the Catholic view on faith and reason.
 
It seems pretty common for teens to be unaware of the mass requirement. I guess the parents reaction is why some churches are reluctant to push it.
 
I’m just passing on the good reports I’ve heard from other parishes.

There is a Catholic version of Alpha.
 
Oh, I fired off several emails over a year long period of time, including the pastor in each one. Once the DRE had made the decision, it seemed all discussion was closed. This, despite talking to the pastor on other family problems and seeking his advice. He knew our situation and chose not to respond other than to confirm the DRE’s decision. I PRAY, daily, that my children will come back to the faith they were taught and shown someday, and that God will show them mercy.
 
I understand your issue. In our diocese the age for confirmation is 9th to 12th grade. While it does give us 2 more years than yours, I can’t make exceptions to it. It is what the bishop has said and it is final. There is no leeway.

With the other classes of youth group I can make exceptions, I can take special circumstances into consideration. I’m sorry your son fell away from the faith and pray he will return. But there must be a boundary or this is what we get:
CilladeRoma said:
Then, if they do it for one family, they have to make an exception for another and then another and finally, there is no standard.
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