Posted on 11/20/2008 3:54:15 PM PST by NYer
Saying that Confirmation has practically become a "Sacrament of Farewell", Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan has called for a radical reconsideration of the age and practice relating to its conferral.
Addressing a meeting with the school principals of the Bunbury Diocese, Bishop Holohan said that "in every practical sense, Confirmation had become a 'Sacrament of Farewell'", a diocesan media statement says.
The Bishop contrasted the gap between the practice of today and the pastoral practice of the early Church.
"Most Confirmation candidates today are the children of parents who have little if anything to do with the Christian community," the diocesan statement said.
"The early Church conferred the Sacraments of Initiation on the children within families in which they were receiving, and would continue to receive, initiatory catechesis.
"The current practice of confirming children from families incapable of giving the necessary catechesis would not have been allowed in the early Church. Sacraments were seen as sacraments of faith, and would not have been conferred outside a faith context."
Bishop Holohan noted that today, instead of catechesis, "we make do with religious education".
"Initiatory catechesis is an 'apprenticeship in the faith', whereas religious education is an educational discipline offering an 'understanding that leads towards faith'.
Confusing the two, he said, is like confusing an electrical apprenticeship with the TAFE course required to qualify as an electrician.
Bishop Holohan also cited Pope Benedict's call for a review of pastoral approach to Confirmation in the light of whether it led into the 'community' where people 'received formation' needed to appreciate the Eucharist as 'the climax and summit' of the Christian life. He suggested that the current approach did the reverse.
Bishop Holohan suggested that among future possibilities was the one of "not completing Christian initiation until young people received adequate initiatory catechesis."
He said the he wondered about the wisdom of reversing the order of First Holy Communion and Confirmation in the current pastoral situation. "There seems little sense in the Eucharist replacing Confirmation as the 'Sacrament of Farewell'", he concluded.
SOURCE
Call for a radical reconsideration of the age and practice of the Sacrament of Confirmation (Bunbury diocese, Media Statement, 19/11/08)
LINKS
Sacrament of Confirmation (Melbourne Archdiocese)
"The current practice of confirming children from families incapable of giving the necessary catechesis would not have been allowed in the early Church. Sacraments were seen as sacraments of faith, and would not have been conferred outside a faith context."
Amen!
I made my Confirmation at age 10. It made a very strong impact on my life. But back then, we were taught by the nuns using the Baltimore Catechism and the bishop only visited once every 2 years.
I wholeheartedly agree...that there should be profound catechesis (saturated in prayer) before one is confirmed. It needs to be taken much more seriously.
The true schism in the Catholic church is between those who embrace the faith, and those who desire the social standing among Catholics.
Two and three generations ago, American Catholics to a great extent lived in communities whose secular behavior revolved around the church. Priests and bishops were the center of the community, and had indirect secular power over the government and civic institutions. If you did not belong to the church, you were excluded from much of the secular community.
Had this situation not evolved, many of the “social” Catholics of today would have long ago abandoned the church, their faith meaning little to them compared to their secular lives. Instead, today they try to embrace Catholics as one of them, yet despise their faith.
As such they are like a viper held to the bosom. They cannot help their reptilian nature and will bite those showing only care to them. It is best that they are turned loose, to live in the rocks with other such snakes.
That would be my generation ;-)
One of my favorite books in the OT is Ecclesiastes who tells us that "everything old is new again. There is nothing new under the sun". This is also true of the Catholic Church. Look back even farther into the history of the church and you will find periods filled with abuses. The one consolation we have as Catholics is the knowledge that the Holy Spirit guides the Church, despite the failings of the men who run it. St. Paul reminds us to "hold fast" to our faith.
We know from history that there are cycles in nature and also in the Church. We are in such a cycle now and must pray that holy men and women will rise up and restore the treasures that have been misplaced. There are those, like you and I, who are doing just that.
Just to let you know, we have similar problems in the Lutheran church. It is always a parent problem. Christian training of the young needs to start at baptism.
To me this is an odd article. But then again, in Orthodoxy and in most if not all of the particular churches in communion with the Pope, chrismation (confirmation) takes place at baptism, as does “first communion”.
“Two and three generations ago, American Catholics to a great extent lived in communities whose secular behavior revolved around the church. Priests and bishops were the center of the community, and had indirect secular power over the government and civic institutions.
When I was a boy, our small city was ultimately run by three men, the senior Roman Catholic monsignor, the rabbi and the Greek priest. Their successors have some influence and generally for the good of the community but its nothing like what it was decades ago. Nowadays there are athletic games for the kids on Sunday mornings...a result of Mass on Saturday late afternoons.
” If you did not belong to the church, you were excluded from much of the secular community.”
I remember when a French Canadian doctor ran for mayor of our city. He was the big favorite to win. Everyone assumed that he was a practicing Roman Catholic. In fact, he was an Episcopalian. On the Monday before the Nov. election, the local paper ran a picture of him leaving the Protestant church the day before. He was crushed at the polls.
I think that Christian training should start well before a candidate seeks to be baptized (immersed as practiced in the early years of the Church of Christ). One must believe before being considered a Christian. Today we have it backwards - baptized (by a little water applied to a part of the body in most cases), and then later on "confirmed" in the faith one never knew as a baby (often less than two weeks old). The NT tells us that belief comes first, period.
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It is generational. I looked over the anniversary booklet of a Pastor of thirty years ago (spanning the "glory years" of WWII and just beyond) and found that there was generally only one person in each confirmation class who was still active in that congregation.
Christian training of the young needs to start at baptism.
No, I'd say it needs to begin pre-natal--as in Christian parenting classes (with Baptismal instruction) during pregnancy.
I agree with this bishop and the Pope, that we need to rethink Confirmation - and I’ve said that for a long time. Due to a lot of moves during middle school, I wasn’t confirmed until I was 17. I was the oldest in my class and one of three who knew what we were doing. The other two were 16. Even then, our preparation was quite poor. That experience really made me think about Confirmation and I honestly believe that even with all the blessings, it should not be given until such a time when the candidate has cognizant knowledge of what they are doing. Otherwise, it’s a disservice to everyone.
More like during marriage preparation.
Ah, but what about those (meant with sorrow) poor bastards conceived and raised out of wedlock? Probably 1/3 or more of the Confirmation age youth.
Got to remember that confirmation over the more recent years has been treated as a “coming of age” sacrement.
Confirmation people have told me is where (I think, not sure) those getting confirmed get a little slap on the cheek some have told me from the Clergy during the ceremony. I don’t think we ever did but whatever is proper.
I agree with what you say but in the past there was something going on at the parishes all the time. Mothers didn’t work outside the home, for the most part, and much of their social life was within the parish. Now, almost everyone works! Children’s lives revolve around secular school and non-religious activities.
We have a constant battle with the schools not to have any extra-curriculars on Wednesday nights and there will probably come a day when they won’t feel they need to give us that courtesy at all.
Somehow, we have to help them “own” their faith. Not to go through the motions to please Mom and Dad, who don’t go to Mass or Grandma, who does.
I have had some luck, most of the kids I have had in my Confirmation classes are still going to Mass and they are out of their teens now. They are getting married in the Church. It may be that I have taught more in the vein of RCIA, or it might be that I am very firm in my faith and emotional and I show it. And yet, sometimes I think that we want them to have the theology so we drill them without making them understand that the commitment is a gift and not a chore. You aren’t going to hell if you can’t name the 7 sacraments, it is the heart that must be touched before the teaching is absorbed and when that happens they can’t get enough.
It’s interesting the kinds of Organizations (are they called Fraternal Organizations? I don’t know) that are in the Catholic Church but some were very popular in the past, like Legion of Mary (established in Ireland I am rather certain) or Holy Name Society, the latter I’ve heard is really low on popularity according to our pastor. The Knights of Columbus are probably relatively popular but I doubt if like in the old days. Bless this woman I know, in the last 2 years or so we did Legion of Mary door to door (like the Mormons do!) prosyletizing and all of the other things that organization does. Heck, in places like India and Singapore, I think they are still popular. But unfortunately, most of these kinds of organizations are not what they once were. Some day!
That’s why too, when figures are tossed out like 52 percent of Catholics supported Obama, heck, the Pew Foundation did a survey that only a quarter of those calling themselves Catholic go to Mass every week. That is a figure of around 25 percent of the 60-65 million Catholics in the US.
http://www.holynamesociety.info/index1.shtml
And there’s a few other such types of organizations, Blue Army is another one now I think called the Fatima World Apostolate but maybe Blue Army would be a good name to go back to.
These are fine organizations: as someone above pointed out, the Church has suffered very much so in the past before but comes back strong.
It’s really odd to go into one of the Trad Churches and see how well, they do hang on to Tradition, not just SSPX but CMRI is another one http://www.cmri.org/.
To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
Two and three generations ago, American Catholics to a great extent lived in communities whose secular behavior revolved around the church.
That would be my generation ;-)
One of my favorite books in the OT is Ecclesiastes who tells us that “everything old is new again. There is nothing new under the sun”. This is also true of the Catholic Church. Look back even farther into the history of the church and you will find periods filled with abuses. The one consolation we have as Catholics is the knowledge that the Holy Spirit guides the Church, despite the failings of the men who run it. St. Paul reminds us to “hold fast” to our faith.
We know from history that there are cycles in nature and also in the Church. We are in such a cycle now and must pray that holy men and women will rise up and restore the treasures that have been misplaced. There are those, like you and I, who are doing just that.
5 posted on 11/20/2008 4:31:38 PM PST by NYer (”Run from places of sin as from a plague.” - St. John Climacus)
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