Spacing the Sacraments

[babochka]

You can’t do the Sacrament of Reconciliation until the age of discretion. Age 7 is pretty much the minimum age.

Can. 97 §1. A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age has reached majority; below this age, a person is a minor.
§2. A minor before the completion of the seventh year is called an infant and is considered not responsible for oneself (non sui compos). With the completion of the seventh year, however, a minor is presumed to have the use of reason.

I’ve known a few 5 year old children who have most certainly been ready for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. One of my children had his first confession at 5, by his request. We hadn’t really prepared for it, other than teaching him about sin and forgiveness, and he knew what the sacraments were. One Sunday, Father gave a homily encouraging all of us to go to Confession during Advent. Something in it touched my son, and he asked if he could go. We asked Father (who knew our son) and he said that he wouldn’t be the one responsible for keeping a repentant sinner from forgiveness. We spent about some time teaching him about the specifics of confession (examination of conscience, format,etc.) and he received the Sacrament. The age of 7 (or rather by the 8th birthday) is really more of a maximum than a minimum.

There is an FSSP parish nearby, and it is not terribly unusual to see a 5 or 6 year old in the First Confession/Communion class. It isn’t the norm, but I’d say every group has 1 or 2 children who are younger than 7…

 

[Vico]

CIC Canon 97
§1. A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age has reached majority; below this age, a person is a minor.
§2. A minor before the completion of the seventh year is called an infant and is considered not responsible for oneself (non sui compos). With the completion of the seventh year, however, a minor is presumed to have the use of reason.

CCEO Canon 1490
Merely ecclesiastical laws bind those baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, who have sufficient use of reason and, unless the law itself expressly provides otherwise, who have completed their seventh year of age.