What day of the week is your parish's confirmation?

[jpjd]

In our diocese, the diocese tells the parish what date Confirmation will be, for that parish. As you can imagine, it just is not possible for every parish to have Confirmation on a Sunday; and so there are parishes who will be celebrating Confirmation on a week night.

My parish has been assigned a Wednesday evening.

As much as I understand that not every parish can have it on a Sunday, I just am not happy about this. Our extended family lives about 3 hours away, and with my siblings’, nieces’, in-laws’, etc, work schedules, only my retired parents will be able to attend. This will also affect who my son can ask to be his sponsor.

Has anyone else faced this situation?

 

[Joannm]

Most parishes celebrate confirmation during the week. It has to do with the Bishop’s schedule, not the convenience of the guests. In fact, in our area, there are so many kids confirmed at each pairsh that seating in the church is usually limited to parents and sponsors only…no out of town guests…there is just no room for them. Even back in 1964 when I received my Confirmation it was on a Thursday afternoon.

 

[Phemie]

When we were a small diocese we usually managed to have Confirmation on Sundays (which meant that the smaller parishes that could only be reached by travelling through our town had theirs on weekdays) but now that our diocese has doubled in size we take the bishop when we can get him. It’s about his, not the guests’ convenience.

Confirmation in our village when I was a kid (50s & 60s) was always in the evening on a weekday, as it was in the neighbouring villages.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

I’m not sure what day confirmation is this year. Our diocese is huge so we have spring and fall confirmations, we have them scheduled on all days of the week (usually never Sunday though), and we even have other bishops come in to help–specifically the bishop of the military since so many people in this area are military.

The sacrament happens even without witnesses. If you want family to celebrate, hold a party for the weekend after.

 

[kage_ar]

Your son’s sponsor does not have to attend, someone who is there may stand proxy for the sponsor.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

As much as I understand that not every parish can have it on a Sunday, I just am not happy about this. Our extended family lives about 3 hours away, and with my siblings’, nieces’, in-laws’, etc, work schedules, only my retired parents will be able to attend. This will also affect who my son can ask to be his sponsor.

As a previous poster said, your son can ask anyone to be his sponsor. If the sponsor cannot be there, someone can stand in for him as proxy. (Remember, the main duty of the sponsor is to share his faith with your son and be a role model.)

Why not have a celebration for the family on a weekend following the Confirmation? You can share photos of the ceremony with them (or a video, if the parish is having one made), and you can even attend Mass together and offer it for your son.

 

[Seatuck]

Ours have traditionally been on Thursdays for as long as I can remember in the two parishes that I have lived in.

 

[maryjk]

As a previous poster said, your son can ask anyone to be his sponsor. If the sponsor cannot be there, someone can stand in for him as proxy. (Remember, the main duty of the sponsor is to share his faith with your son and be a role model.)

Why not have a celebration for the family on a weekend following the Confirmation? You can share photos of the ceremony with them (or a video, if the parish is having one made), and you can even attend Mass together and offer it for your son.

Ours was on a Wednesday. Each family got 3 seats. With us, it worked. We had seats for my husband, our son’s Godfather and me. About a month later, my parents moved to our town and we had a dinner with my parents and the sponsor’s family.

If you think about how many parishes the Bishop has to visit for Confirmation, you would understand that it can’t always be on a Sunday.

 

[puzzleannie]

In My parish has been assigned a Wednesday evening.

As much as I understand that not every parish can have it on a Sunday, I just am not happy about this. Our extended family lives about 3 hours away, and with my siblings’, nieces’, in-laws’, etc, work schedules, only my retired parents will be able to attend. This will also affect who my son can ask to be his sponsor.

Has anyone else faced this situation?

one thing you might want to ask is how many people can be accommodated in the church after the candidates and sponsors. In our church they take up 2/3 of the pews, which leaves about 10 pews and the cry room upstairs for parents and other guests. so it may be a non-issue.

we had 67 parishes and one bishop. you figure it out, there are certainly not 67 Sundays in a year. You send in your request in June for the following year, bishop’s secretary starts working on the schedule in August (when all the late responses come in) and probably tears her hair out doing it. It is sent out right after Christmas, she fields all the complaints and handles all the conflicts, the new schedule comes out in February, and Confirmations start right after Easter and go at least until Pentecost, when he confirms all the adults at the basilica. Last year because of a trip to Rome and other problems, we were after Pentecost, over a month after the kids were through with CCD, because our first date was a washout. We were still not the last parish.

If there is a real conflict with the date in your parish (sponsor cannot be there, important event–national science scholarship competition is an example we had recently) work with your pastor or DRE to find out of he can be confirmed at a neighboring parish whose date works out better. The burden is on you, however to work with the other parish and supply what they need. The sponsor can also be represented by a proxy (not satisfactory from a family viewpoint, but in emergency, its good to know).

 

[dconklin]

In the past the Bishop’s office would send out a survey to see what days worked best for each parish. We always preferred weeknights. A neighboring larger parish had to have two confirmations every year because their sanctuary was not big enough. They were both on Saturday.