What is an appropriate age to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation?

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Stylteralmaldo

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I’m curious what fellow Catholics believe an appropriate age for receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation would be. When you respond, if you could identify when you were confirmed to give a little background of your personal perspective.

Here’s a list of possible ages of allowing confirmation and my thoughts on each:

As an infant: Eastern Catholics have this sacrament conferred at an early age (see CCC 1290 & 1292). The logic makes sense to me. Why deny this precious grace (see CCC 1302)? Also, the Catholic Church teaches that in danger of death, this Sacrament should be given to a child even if that child has not yet attained the age of reason (see CCC 1307).

Age 7 (Age of reason): At this age, typically Catholics first receive Holy Communion. We allow receiving Jesus in their lives at this age and together with the Sacrament of Confession it is deemed that they know right from wrong. It appears reasonable to me for children to also receive this particular special grace of the Holy Spirit to publicly profess their faith. (see CCC 1305 & 1307)

Age 12 (approx. 8th grade): About half of my siblings were confirmed at this age. Jesus taught in the temple at age 12. The Jews treat age 12 as a time of “coming of age” and it appears the Catholic Church sees confirmation as such to a certain extent. (see CCC 1307) Although I understand that technically Confirmation is not a “coming of age” in the natural sense. (see CCC 1308)

Age 16-17 (approx. Jr. Yr HS): This is when our diocese typically allows Confirmation. It is also when I received this Sacrament. I am glad to have received it then, although I am torn as to whether “typically” this is a good age to be Confirmed or not. I know many classmates of mine who have not followed through with their “confirmed” faith. Some attended confirmation classes but were seemingly there not by choice but by parental requirement.

Age 18-24 (“adult” decision): By law (at least in the USA), the persons can make decisions for themselves. It makes sense in the sense of those being “confirmed against their will” with some parents requiring their children be confirmed. By law, they can make their own decision, but are they mature enough to make it? But as with my other options stated above, does the natural maturity level of the person receiving the Sacrament matter?

Age 25+ (“mature” adulthood): It seems to me that most people “settle in” in their lives by the time they reach age 25 or so. Logically, many have by this time made the decision whether to confirm their Catholic faith or adhere to another faith system or no faith at all. Is it wise for a parent to even suggest to a child to wait until “mature” adulthood for such a choice? Most Catholics would not wait with Baptism due to the grace it confers. Why not the same or similar urgency regarding Confirmation?

CCC related to Confirmation:
usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt1art2.shtml
 
When the bishop of the diocese calls the Catholic youth to confirmation, they should be prepared for and receive the sacrament. The age, the timing, and the preparation is whatever the local bishop says it is. For non-Catholics, the time is when they are ready to make a profession of faith and ask the bishop, or the priest he delegates, to confirm their baptism. That is the law as it stands.

If you are asking my personal opinion it will be what I will present as I have been asked to do when our diocese reviews current practice, backed up by research I have gathered. That is, that the practice of the Eastern Church should be adopted, that is, the earliest practice of the universal Church be reinstated, that all those of whatever aged are baptized and confirmed at the same time. Since a goodly proportion of confirmations in many dioceses are already performed by priests under delagation of the bishop, the need in western theology of the sacrament to emphasize the role of the bishop is dwindling in any case so the justification for retaining that practice is waning. IMO.

Since that would require a global canon law change, my next recommendation would be the earliest age currently allowed, 7 or the age of reason, with preparation for Confirmation and First Communion and reception of both sacraments together, following sacramental confession. With the restoration of the children’s catechumenate, wherein children that young are confirmed and fully initiated with baptism, any reason for delay is superfluous.

“Keeping them in CCD” is an idiotic argument. If they were sacramentally initiated we could do what Eastern Churches do now, focus on actual religious education and true faith formation rather than continually teaching the basics.

Current practice of delaying Confirmation to teen years is IMO de facto denial of the sacrament.
 
I was confirmed when I was in grade 6 and 11 years old. Now they’re changing when they do Confirmation here to do it when they do First Communion. Interestingly enough, they now do First Reconciliation two years after First Communion, so I don’t know what to think anymore. I was taught we got confirmed to confirm that we want to be members of the Catholic Church, and that it was our own decision now that we weren’t infants. So, now knowing that’s all wrong, I can’t tell when it should actually occur because I’m still trying to learn why exactly we’re Confirmed. Ah, the joys of terrible Catechism.
 
Under different circumstances, myself and my son were confirmed as infants in the Roman Catholic Church. Plus the fact that I am now attending an Eastern Catholic parish. So my opinion on this is we should be confirmed as infants. The Sacraments of Initiation should go together regardless of age.
 
I’m all over the place on this one.

The fact of the matter is that the best age for a given individual is not likely to be the same as for any other individual. But it is not reasonable for the Church or family of the individual to have to determine the best age, let alone implement it.

I do think that there was something to be said for “Adult” (as opposed to “infant”) Confirmation being a witness to the Church at large. But today adult catechumans and candidates who enter the Church via the RCIA can provide that witness.

What I do think ought to be happen is that Confirmation should precede First Communion regardless of when Confirmation is done.

My reasoning here is that in Roman Catholicism there seems to be a big emphasis on Baptism and First Communion but a not much beyond that. I’d like to see Confirmation included in there. It wouldn’t prevent all the problems that seem to be part of the reason the age of Confirmation has been raised but at least more people would be confirmed and have those graces.

…oh… and I was confirmed when I was in eighth grade so I was 12 going on 13.
 
My parish does this in 8th grade but several parishes in the area have pushed it to 9th grade.

I was confirmed in 8th grade - 13yrs old.
 
puzzleannie said:
When the bishop of the diocese calls the Catholic youth to confirmation, they should be prepared for and receive the sacrament. The age, the timing, and the preparation is whatever the local bishop says it is. For non-Catholics, the time is when they are ready to make a profession of faith and ask the bishop, or the priest he delegates, to confirm their baptism. That is the law as it stands.

If you are asking my personal opinion it will be what I will present as I have been asked to do when our diocese reviews current practice, backed up by research I have gathered. That is, that the practice of the Eastern Church should be adopted, that is, the earliest practice of the universal Church be reinstated, that all those of whatever aged are baptized and confirmed at the same time. Since a goodly proportion of confirmations in many dioceses are already performed by priests under delagation of the bishop, the need in western theology of the sacrament to emphasize the role of the bishop is dwindling in any case so the justification for retaining that practice is waning. IMO.

Since that would require a global canon law change, my next recommendation would be the earliest age currently allowed, 7 or the age of reason, with preparation for Confirmation and First Communion and reception of both sacraments together, following sacramental confession. With the restoration of the children’s catechumenate, wherein children that young are confirmed and fully initiated with baptism, any reason for delay is superfluous.

**“Keeping them in CCD” is an idiotic argument. If they were sacramentally initiated we could do what Eastern Churches do now, focus on actual religious education and true faith formation rather than continually teaching the basics.

Current practice of delaying Confirmation to teen years is IMO de facto denial of the sacrament.**
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Thanks! 👍
 
As an Eastern Catholic I tend towards the Infant age as all the Sacraments of Initiation are given during the same Divne Liturgy.

For the Western Church I do see and understand the connection with the Bishop for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Having said that I am for a restoration of the order of the Sacraments of Initiation in the Western Church, so it should go Baptism as an infant, Confirmation and First Eucharist at the same Mass at the age of reason.
 
I was confirmed at the age of 7, back in 1960.

While I would like to see infant confirmation at the time of baptism, I don’t think that is likely to happen in the Latin Rite so AFAIC, next best is ‘age of reason’.

For 9 years in my diocese we had Confirmation and First Communion in the same celebration and all children aged 6 and up could prepare for both. At the end of the preparation if they understood and could receive reverently they received both sacraments. Reconciliation took place a week or so before as the Church requires.

When our diocese was suppressed and we joined another diocese which had Confirmation in grade 10, our Bishop (who’d led both dioceses) decided that parishes could celebrate Confirmation between grades 6-10.

In his explanation of the change to our diocese, he said teachers had complained that they had to prepare the kids for 3 sacraments in the same year and that was just too much. The process we were using was not onerous and if they thought it was too much it’s because they had added to the process things which the diocese didn’t require. Our own teachers (I was one for the first year and helped out a few times in subsequent years) didn’t think the process was onerous at all. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to change the mindset that Confirmation is a sacrament of maturity.

Yes, it’s onerous if you think that you have to prepare a 7 year old to the same level you prepare a 15 year old or an adult.
 
Phemie said:
I was confirmed at the age of 7, back in 1960.

While I would like to see infant confirmation at the time of baptism, I don’t think that is likely to happen in the Latin Rite so AFAIC, next best is ‘age of reason’.

For 9 years in my diocese we had Confirmation and First Communion in the same celebration and all children aged 6 and up could prepare for both. At the end of the preparation if they understood and could receive reverently they received both sacraments. Reconciliation took place a week or so before as the Church requires.

When our diocese was suppressed and we joined another diocese which had Confirmation in grade 10, our Bishop (who’d led both dioceses) decided that parishes could celebrate Confirmation between grades 6-10.

In his explanation of the change to our diocese, he said teachers had complained that they had to prepare the kids for 3 sacraments in the same year and that was just too much. The process we were using was not onerous and if they thought it was too much it’s because they had added to the process things which the diocese didn’t require. Our own teachers (I was one for the first year and helped out a few times in subsequent years) didn’t think the process was onerous at all. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to change the mindset that Confirmation is a sacrament of maturity.

Yes, it’s onerous if you think that you have to prepare a 7 year old to the same level you prepare a 15 year old or an adult.
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Problem that I see is that knowledge is not a prerequisite for the Sacraments. It may be a discipline but it not a theological requirement.
 
Phemie said:
I wasWhen our diocese was suppressed and we joined another diocese which had Confirmation in grade 10, our Bishop (who’d led both dioceses) decided that parishes could celebrate Confirmation between grades 6-10.

In his explanation of the change to our diocese, he said teachers had complained that they had to prepare the kids for 3 sacraments in the same year and that was just too much. t .
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I understand the thinking and see why here the Synod went to 1st confession in 2nd grade, 1st communion in 3rd grade, mainly do differentiate between the two sacraments, remove thinking confession is required before every reception of communion, and to give full weight to prep time for each sacrament. Be that as it may, RCIA for Children is still out in left field, some parishes as little as 9 months to prepare a 7 yr old for 3 sacraments, others up to 3 years, including a year of mystagogy. Yet we are commanded by all recent relevant church documents to conform all sacramental prep to the RCIA model. I would buy into almost anything if it meant uniformity in the diocese.

Obviously if children can be ready for 3 sacraments through the catechumenate, children of school age can be prepared for 2 sacraments at the same time.
 
ByzCath said:
Problem that I see is that knowledge is not a prerequisite for the Sacraments. It may be a discipline but it not a theological requirement.
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While the Latin Church agrees on Confirmation, allowing it for infants in danger of death, it still requires that a child understand Whom he/she is receiving and be able to do it reverently to receive Communion even in extremis. We can only hope that this will change in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.
 
Phemie said:
While the Latin Church agrees on Confirmation, allowing it for infants in danger of death, it still requires that a child understand Whom he/she is receiving and be able to do it reverently to receive Communion even in extremis. We can only hope that this will change in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.
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Again, that is only a matter of disciple not theological or dogmatic in any way as the Eastern Churches communion infants. If it was then they could not do so.
 
puzzleannie said:
Obviously if children can be ready for 3 sacraments through the catechumenate, children of school age can be prepared for 2 sacraments at the same time.
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Try 4, we do First Recconciliation a couple of weeks after Easter. 😃

I think it makes more sense to connect First Communion and Confirmation. The problem I see with this is getting it through people’s heads that confirmation isn’t “becoming an adult in the Church.” I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this, even from people who I would have hoped would know better. Any bishop who decided to change things would have to do a whole LOT of catechisis, and even then, I think would hear about it an awful lot.
 
Another option

Between birth and 3 Historically, in the Latin Church, infants were baptized and the next time the bishop arrived at the parish (before planes trains and autos) he would confirm all those since his last visit. Usually up to 3 years.
 
Evan said:
Another option

Between birth and 3 Historically, in the Latin Church, infants were baptized and the next time the bishop arrived at the parish (before planes trains and autos) he would confirm all those since his last visit. Usually up to 3 years.
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Totally off topic. :o

But wow! Another old-timer with a low post count!
 
SMHW said:
Totally off topic. :o

But wow! Another old-timer with a low post count!
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How is this off topic. Look at the OP, a selection of possible ages was provided. I gave the rational for NOT having confirmation at Birth in the Latin Church. It has historically required confirmation be given by the bishop. As dioceses grew, the number of parishes increased, the frequency of the bishop decreased, and the sacraments of baptism and confirmation were separated. But the order was always maintained: Baptism then Confirmation, and finally Eucharist. Only in the last few hundred years has confirmation been moved to after 1st Eucharist. I believe the order has been restored in some Diocese in the SW USA. Where confirmation is now given prior to First Eucharist.

I like giving it to 2 year olds. I also like seeing 3 year olds approach for communion. (I’ve only seen this in the Eastern Churches)
 
Here’s what I was looking for:
The Restored Order of Sacraments of Initiation
Diocese of Phoenix
Introduction
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On May 15, 2005 Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted promulgated the new Policy and Guidelines concerning the restoration of the order of the Sacraments of Initiation in the Diocese of Phoenix. The chief concluding reason for Bishop Olmsted’s initiative for this change was the full sense of the theological term “mystagogy”. Mystagogy, in the full sense — of aiding our young people’s understanding of what they have received through the Sacraments of Initiation, throughout every stage of life which includes the stages from infancy and continues throughout grade school, high school, young adulthood to mature adulthood to live as a disciple of Christ, a life dedicated to the missionary and apostolic service of Christ. As the General Directory for Catechesis notes, initiatory catechesis encompasses more than mere instruction in the faith, “it is an apprenticeship of the entire Christian life” (GDC #67).
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This new policy has effectively changed the age for Confirmation preparation and reception from 16 years of age (sophomore or junior in high school), to the ages of students in the third grade. As a result, the preparation and reception of the Sacraments of Initiation throughout the Diocese of Phoenix will be: Baptism: in Infancy, Reconciliation: Second Grade, Confirmation and First Eucharist: Third Grade.
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I have few posts, as you do, because we are discerning posters, only what is needed and no more. Thus they don’t know of our foolishness:
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. – Bible, ‘Proverbs’ 17:28.
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