"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.
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”.
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.
From the headline, I thought this was going to be about the Sacrament of the Annointing of the Sick.
In no way is the Sacrament of Confirmation the Sacrament of Farewell. Where we fail is in hahving active programs for these people to step into and stay involved.
How many of you have Young Adult groups in your parishes? That’s where a lot of the answer is in my opinion.