We are experiencing an interesting phenomenon in our parish. We have seen a significant increase in the number of first Communion candidates in our Faith Formation (CCD) program, nearly doubling previous years. The interesting thing is that over half are what we call late bloomers, kids well beyond 2nd grade. It tells me that many lapsed Catholics are returning to the Church or at least making sure that their kids get the basics.
Wow! I think you are in a big parish, but our numbers were larger this year too.
Doubling for the Anglo kids and tripling for the Hispanic kids.
The largest church here in little ole Oregon capital had (Are you ready?) 360 First Communicants.
Yep, we’ve seen that in our parish too.
My own kids were 13 and 10 when they were baptized and received 1st Communion.