Pope praises order of Baptism, then Confirmation, then First Communion

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The pope praised the Fargo, ND bishop for reinstating Confirmation before Eucharist and encouraged him to speak with the other bishops about doing the same. I hope it spreads quickly now!

catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishop-aquila-receives-popes-praise-for-reordering-sacraments/
Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo said he is delighted to have first-hand papal approval for changing the order by which children in his diocese receive the sacraments.
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“I was very surprised in what the Pope said to me, in terms of how happy he was that the sacraments of initiation have been restored to their proper order of baptism, confirmation then first Eucharist,” said Bishop Aquila, after meeting Pope Benedict on March 8.
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At what age do they administer Confirmation? And First Communion?
 
Byz_Guy said:
At what age do they administer Confirmation? And First Communion?
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Bp. Aquila has a paper he wrote about it posted on his diocesan website.

“The Sacrament of Confirmation”
Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila Bishop of Fargo
The Liturgical Institute‟s Hillenbrand Distinguished Lecture
Edited for Print
June 24, 2011 Mundelein, Ill.
fargodiocese.org/bishop/HillenbrandLectureOnConfirmation.pdf

In it, he says, “The order of the reception of the sacraments of reconciliation, confirmation and Eucharist in the Diocese of Fargo are: the sacrament of reconciliation in the 2nd grade, and the sacraments of confirmation and First Eucharist in the 3rd grade, celebrated during the same Mass by me during the Easter Season.”
 
Byz_Guy said:
At what age do they administer Confirmation? And First Communion?
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I don’t know about Fargo, but in the Diocese of Tyler, TX which has already switched to the restored order, it’s second grade for First Confession. Confirmation and First Communion are in third grade, usually at the same Mass.
 
:eek:

I had no idea this was possible! Can someone explain to me why people are so invested in doing this? And why all the Sacraments so young? I was sixteen when I was Confirmed – any earlier, and my catechesis would’ve ended!
 
How is the order done usually,at what age? (with communion before confirmation)

Is this order untraditional?
 
Safia said:
:eek:

I had no idea this was possible! Can someone explain to me why people are so invested in doing this? And why all the Sacraments so young? I was sixteen when I was Confirmed – any earlier, and my catechesis would’ve ended!
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Read Bishop Aquila’s letter and this one from Bishop Corado. They explain the rationale very well.

dioceseoftyler.org/documents/Confirmation_document_2.pdf

From the earliest days of the Church until the late 19th century, First Communion was always the last of the Sacraments of initiation. That’s why they call this “restored” order.
 
Safia said:
:eek:

I had no idea this was possible! Can someone explain to me why people are so invested in doing this? And why all the Sacraments so young? I was sixteen when I was Confirmed – any earlier, and my catechesis would’ve ended!
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Bp. Aquila goes over the history and theology very well in the paper I linked. Here’s his response to your concern. He goes over a lot more, but I don’t want to quote the whole paper so I’ll only post a snippet. 🙂 Please read the paper and see what you think about what he says!

fargodiocese.org/bishop/HillenbrandLectureOnConfirmation.pdf
Observations and Questions on Confirmation Celebrated after Eucharist
Some of the motivations for a later age for confirmation – a way for engaging teenagers, an opportunity for personal ownership of one‟s faith, a sacrament that requires sufficient biological maturity – are found wanting as one takes a close look at them in light of the history, the theology, and the recent Magisterium on the sacraments of initiation.
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A motivation for putting confirmation later in adolescence is that it provides a way to keep young people involved in the faith and active with ongoing catechesis. Even though the experience of many is that confirmation at a later age keeps children involved, it is not the only thing that will keep young people interested. “A distinction needs to be drawn between what more properly concerns Confirmation on one hand and, on the other hand, what forms part of the wider pastoral care of pre-adolescence or adolescence, which goes well beyond the preparation for the sacrament and its follow-up.” Parents are the ones with the responsibility to ensure the faith formation of their children. It is their duty as the first teachers of their children in the faith to make certain that they and their children continue to learn the faith, deepening their knowledge and understanding of our Catholic faith.
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Corki and I are on the same wavelength tonight! 😛
Paul_theApostle said:
How is the order done usually,at what age? (with communion before confirmation)

Is this order untraditional?
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The common order in the United States is First Confession and First Communion in 2nd grade, then Confirmation between 7th and 11th grade depending on diocese.

Bp. Aquila’s first two footnotes are
1 The local bishop in each diocese is to determine the age of Confirmation for his particular Church. In accord with the norms set by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that age may range from the age of discretion to about 16. Complementary norm to Canon 891 was approved by U.S. Bishops in 2000 and granted recognitio by the Congregation for Bishops May 9, 2001.

2 In 2005, Bishop Thomas Olmstead in the Diocese of Phoenix restored the order of the Sacraments of Initiation for Catholic children baptized as infants. See Gift from on High, Confirmation and First Eucharist, Completing the Initiation of Baptized Children. There are about another 15-20 dioceses which follow a similar pattern, whether by establishing a diocesan wide norm or by allowing parishes to choose to restore the order on the local level.
 
Corki said:
From the earliest days of the Church until the late 19th century, First Communion was always the last of the Sacraments of initiation. That’s why they call this “restored” order.
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I’ve seen a lot of conversations in which the switch is dated at 1911, but that’s really an oversimplification. Communion-before-confirmation began, as you said, in the late 19th century, and became nearly universal in the Latin Church around the time of Vatican II.
 
I know of at least one case where the order of Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, has created a confused situation.
 
CDB1718 said:
Bp. Aquila goes over the history and theology very well in the paper I linked. Here’s his response to your concern. He goes over a lot more, but I don’t want to quote the whole paper so I’ll only post a snippet. 🙂 Please read the paper and see what you think about what he says!

fargodiocese.org/bishop/HillenbrandLectureOnConfirmation.pdf
A motivation for putting confirmation later in adolescence is that it provides a way to keep young people involved in the faith and active with ongoing catechesis.
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I’d be very curious to know the statistics of how many cradle Catholics actually make it to Confirmation at what has been the “normal” time in the US in these decades. I know it took the Bishop of the Diocese of Oakland about two hours to confirm the adult Catholics this year, a few weeks ago, they took up about 1/3- 1/2 of the Cathedral. We have two unconfirmed Catholics recently joined our RCIA who will get confirmed by him next year.
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5Loaves said:
I’d be very curious to know the statistics of how many cradle Catholics actually make it to Confirmation at what has been the “normal” time in the US in these decades. I know it took the Bishop of the Diocese of Oakland about two hours to confirm the adult Catholics this year, a few weeks ago, they took up about 1/3- 1/2 of the Cathedral. We have two unconfirmed Catholics recently joined our RCIA who will get confirmed by him next year.
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That’s a very good point. I know a lot of adult Roman Catholics who were never confirmed, too.
 
Safia said:
:eek:

I had no idea this was possible! Can someone explain to me why people are so invested in doing this? And why all the Sacraments so young? I was sixteen when I was Confirmed – any earlier, and my catechesis would’ve ended!
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That is a big part of the problem when the sacraments of initiation are delayed.

They become the ‘goal’. It is like no matter what age the last one (usually confirmation) is given, for many people it is as if the person has ‘graduated’, and religious education stops, frozen at fifth grade level (or whatever level) and the religious knowledge and spirituality does not mature. People might have college level knowledge of science, economics and the arts, but in religion they could still be children.

Giving all three sacraments of initiation in infancy changes that dynamic.

Changing the order of giving the sacraments to what the present Pope recommends will be an important first step if the Latin church ever wishes to bring it’s practice back into conformity with the rest of Apostolic Christianity.
 
This is unique news, but why is it in the Eastern Catholicism forum if it is about restoration of Latin practices in the Latin Church?

God Bless 🙂
 
chaldobyzantine said:
This is unique news, but why is it in the Eastern Catholicism forum if it is about restoration of Latin practices in the Latin Church?

God Bless 🙂
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I thought it would be of interest to Eastern Catholics, especially considering the conversation about Bp. Samra going on in this forum. If I put it in the wrong place, the mods can move it.
 
Hesychios said:
Changing the order of giving the sacraments to what the present Pope recommends will be an important first step if the Latin church ever wishes to bring it’s practice back into conformity with the rest of Apostolic Christianity.
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Wasn’t it common (although not universal) in the early centuries of the church to postpone baptism to adulthood, even for children born to Christian families? St Ambrose in particular comes to mind. But today the common practice throughout Apostolic Christianity–east and west–is for infant baptism. Yet rarely do I see any hue and cry from Orthodox (or Catholics) demanding a return to the ancient practice of the church. Why not?

My point is not that one way or the other is better, either for the age of baptism or for the order of the sacraments. Rather, my point is that things do change in the church, even ancient small-T traditions, when it will have a positive impact on the faith of the people. Reverting to “traditional” practice simply for the sake of reverting to tradition is not a valid reason to change an established practice. Before reverting I would ask (1) Why was this tradition changed? Was there some benefit to the faithful that it brought? If so, will reverting to the former practice obviate this benefit? and (2) Assuming there is some benefit to changing the established practice, will the negative consequences of the change (if any) outweight the purported benefits?

It is not a foregone conclusion that just because things used to be a certain way they are necessarily better that way.

With that said, and without prejudice, I will say that I would strongly prefer that bishops do not make such major alterations to established practice alone, but rather work in concert with their episcopal conferences. This will avoid confusion and prevent a patchwork of widely varying standards from developing across the country. If the bishops believe that confirmation before communion will once again be beneficial to the faith of the people, let’s have the USCCB recommend this practice to all bishops.
 
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