My mother was confirmed 2 weeks after she received First Communion. I made my confirmation in 7th grade and my daughter, in 12th grade. As Bishop Aquila points out, the Eastern Churches administer the Mystery of Chrismation at the time a child is baptized.
I totally agree with him. The present reasoning is that we need to keep holding out that carrot to keep the children in Religious ed., although they don’t actually say that out loud.
This does remind me of the old joke that several protestant ministers are talking about a local priest and the problem that they are all having with bats in the steeples of their respective churches. They noticed that the Catholic Cbhurch is remarkably free of them so they approach the priest and ask how how they don't bother the Catholics. The wry old priest says says in an Irish brogue, "Well used to have a problem with them until we began administering the rite of confirmation to them, and they all left shortly there after."
And yes it was a Bishop that told me that joke when I was attending the local seminary and we were discussing sacraments.
I received Confirmation in the 7th grade, and I was very ticked off when the time for Confirmation for my children was moved to adolescence.
I have to say, as a teacher of a Confirmation prep class, I can truly see the wisdom of what Bishop Aquila is saying. By their high school years, I see too many kids getting into the negative attitudes that permeate the modern high school, and they are so busy with sports programs, homework, etc, that the classes seem to them, and their parents, to be an imposition on their lives.
Years ago, I had a big discussion, in a Parish Council meeting, with the nun who was the DRE, about the age for reception of First Penance. She had constructed program to have First Communion in the second grade, and First Penance in the fourth. I said that Canon Law directs First Penance BEFORE First Communion, and she trotted out the old "parents decide when their child is ready" argument. I told her that Canon Law does say that the parents decide when the child is ready for Communion, but that the Sacrament of Penance must come BEFORE Communion. She ignored that regularly, because she had so many helicopter parents worried that their kids were 'nervous' about the idea of Penance, and wanted to delay it, because they didn't their kids could 'understand' the Sacrament of Penance. That argument has always amused me because I guess they think their kid can understand the concept of Transubstantiation, but can't understand "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Silly. I, and another woman who taught Rel. Ed. programs mentioned the fact that when the kids are in the second grade, they still have that bit of innocence about them that helps them accept the religious teaching, but that by fourth grade, you can see the attitudes start developing that make them more resistant.
Preparing kids for Confirmation in Second grade, then Penance and Communion in the Third grade, might give the kids that good foundation on which to build their lives, and the Rel. Ed. program can spend the subsequent years fleshing out the teachings of the Church as their understanding increases.
i thought he was filipino, i guess not.