Moving Confirmation to go with first Communion

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From a college professor I also heard of another Catholic church that switched to confirming children with communion because, that church was finding. That once kids get to a certain age in their teenage years they, oftentimes fall away from the church.
 
Confirming children because they’ll fall away from the faith when they get older anyway, doesn’t seem right either.

Jim
 
From my own opinion I think that instruction before confirmation is important. I dont think the holy spirit should be denied on people who will recieve its fruits. The problem is, is that there are some people who will make it look like they are all in when they are not. Honestly, the Holy Spirit is not a fool. He knows who is serious and who is not.
 
Teaching Confirmation classes to 6 & 7 year olds and sitting in on the classes my 15 year old son was taking to prepare for his own Confirmation made it abundantly clear to me that 6 & 7 year olds get it and 15 year olds would generally prefer to be anywhere else and don’t buy into what you’re teaching.
 
Churchman25 said:
From my own opinion I think that instruction before confirmation is important.
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I agree. But I would add that instruction after Confirmation is also important.

When high school kids are confirmed, it becomes something of a graduation ceremony. Now they’re done with religious education. But in reality, formation should be a lifetime activity. Confirming young children makes it clear that receiving the sacrament doesn’t represent an end; since it’s a sacrament of initiation, it’s really just the beginning.
 
Actually this is exactly what was done before; the Bishop would ask a question about the faith (ie. what is the fifth commandment?) to the one to be confirmed and confirm them then. Now a whole bunch of kids are being confirmed into a faith they know little about which seems counterintuative. Perhaps it should be done later to those who actually do demonstrate a desire to be confirmed into the Catholic faith and not just going through the motions because they’re kids and all their peers are doing it too, only to quit going to Mass a year or two later once those same peers do the same.
 
I also think when it comes to being confirmed especially in highschool, I think that the Holy Spirit understands that, he is not bound by the sacraments. In that during the initiation of confirmation if someone is not serious, I dont think he would lend his graces to them. Even though the priests would go through with the proceedings.

I think what might happen is if at a later date the individual does become serious then I think that would be when the holy spirit might give him these graces.
 
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SuscipeMeDomine said:
I agree. But I would add that instruction after Confirmation is also important.
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I completely agree with this. Children learn about the faith from their parents. We are blessed to have such a great “Sunday school” after Divine Liturgy at our Church for the kids but my daughters real teachers are my wife and I. Resources like the Institute of Catholic Culture are so important for us adults!
 
JimR-OCDS said:
It’s understood that Confirmation is also given as a third part of Christian initiation, but the Church chose to hold it until the child reached the age of reason, so they would understand what they were committing to.

Jim
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This statement alone shows a significant misunderstanding of the sacrament of Confirmation. It is not the third part of initiation and never has been. It is the second sacrament of initiation, with the Eucharist being the third.

The church did not decide to withhold it until the age of reason so that a person could understand what they were committing to. Because it is not necessary for salvation, it is not strictly necessary to give it to a child who does not yet have the use of reason. For that reason (and other practical reasons), the Church allows the bishop to wait until the age of reason. That doesn’t mean that a young child cannot benefit from the sacrament. Even in the Latin Rite, the Church so desires that nobody enter heaven without the sacrament that infants are to be confirmed in danger of death.
 
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Genesis315 said:
It is also the traditional age in the west for it to be administered (in the east it is administered to infants).
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That’s modern, though. The west traditionally did all three for infants, just as the east, until Confirmation and Eucharist were moved, one at a time, for practical reasons. The whole “age of reason” thing is back-fitted to reality.

hawk
 
My son is in 8th grade at a (Roman) Catholic School. Now, we are Eastern Catholic and several years ago ( before we officially transferred) our 3 kids were all Chrismated and received their first Communion. I believe they were 8, 5 and 2 and a half. Our youngest was born the following year and was Baptized, Chrismated and Communed around 1 mth old. We then did our formal transfer. So the school knows this…and they’ve made it a requirement (as in a grade) for the 8th graders to do 25 hrs of community service…don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of the kids serving the community and doing charitable works but the way they are attaching it to the Sacrament makes me uneasy…like they have to EARN their Confirmation and prove themselves ready. Even my son has to do this even though he’s been chrismated for a while…
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
My son is in 8th grade at a (Roman) Catholic School. Now, we are Eastern Catholic and several years ago ( before we officially transferred) our 3 kids were all Chrismated and received their first Communion. I believe they were 8, 5 and 2 and a half. Our youngest was born the following year and was Baptized, Chrismated and Communed around 1 mth old. We then did our formal transfer. So the school knows this…and they’ve made it a requirement (as in a grade) for the 8th graders to do 25 hrs of community service…don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of the kids serving the community and doing charitable works but the way they are attaching it to the Sacrament makes me uneasy…like they have to EARN their Confirmation and prove themselves ready. Even my son has to do this even though he’s been chrismated for a while…
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It is actually good that your son is required to do the community service hours. In that way, it is not tied to the sacrament. If he were exempt from them because he had already been confirmed, I would see it as more problematic.
 
Oh I agree. I like the idea of him doing them. In the catholic high school every grade has to do 20 a year which is nice so next year he’ll already be used to it. It just bothers me how they play up the whole “soldier for Christ now that you understand what you’re doing” angle.
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
Oh I agree. I like the idea of him doing them. In the catholic high school every grade has to do 20 a year which is nice so next year he’ll already be used to it. It just bothers me how they play up the whole “soldier for Christ now that you understand what you’re doing” angle.
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At least your children are there to help them re-think how they teach the sacrament. It is bound to click for somebody one of these days.
 
That wouldn’t include most children at the RCCs age of reason then.
 
I’ve already asked our priest to come and talk to the kids and to explain so differences between the East ans West. The teacher is really excited about it so there’s hope lol!
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
I’ve already asked our priest to come and talk to the kids and to explain so differences between the East ans West. The teacher is really excited about it so there’s hope lol!
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That’s a great idea. My pastor’s kids go to Catholic school and he says Mass at the parish a couple of times a week. The kids at that parish school are definitely well informed.
 
I actually wouldn’t mind returning to the practice of administering all the sacraments of initiation at once.
 
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