At St. Dennis, we confirm Juniors, but some in our diocese are lowering the age. In high school, one of my friends that moved to town was confirmed in eighth
grade. At what age do you think people should be confirmed?
Age of Confirmation
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 Kim524 |
Age of Confirmation |
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Posts: 986 03/17/07 2:46 PM |
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so
that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 Cornerstone |
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KookinessIsContagious |
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Posts: 314 03/17/07 2:50 PM |
I think that people should be confirmed when they're ready. I personally think 8th grade is a little young. My mom wanted me to be confirmed at the same time as my brother and asked for permission from our priest. I was a Sophomore when I was confirmed and my sponsor said that she could see I was really ready. Maybe they could have a minimum age like 8th and a maximum age like 11th, but that would make things a bit messy. |
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PureandSimple2002 |
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Posts: 386 03/19/07 7:18 PM |
I think I agree with Emily, at least partly. The most important part is that the person is ready, not their age. I remember something like 12 years ago there
were parishes confirmed every two years, so you were either in 10th or 11th grade when you were confirmed. Anyway, I kind of like the minimum age idea, but not
the maximum age. I believe there are many people being confirmed when they are because "that is the prescribed time to do it" and "their parents
want them to", not because they want to or are ready. I think leaving it more open-ended would allow for people to decide to be confirmed because they
want to be, not because they "should" be.
I think we would see more adults being confirmed compared to the number of youths. I believe this could be dealt with through a change in the structure of religious ed. |
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Kim524 |
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Posts: 986 03/25/07 10:16 PM |
You have both brought up some interesting points. I think that having a minimum age range that is too low would just lead to many parents having their kids
confirmed earlier so that they can be done with the church stuff. I don't know if it is just because it is what I'm most familiar with, but I like the
idea of confirmation being junior year. Once they are confirmed, they are an adult in the church and junior year is right in the middle of all of those
"becoming an adult" years. Most teens get their drivers license sophomore year and then start seriously thinking about post high school plans junior
year. This is the time in their life when they really start looking at who they are and what they want to be. I know that there are many teens that get
confirmed just because someone else wants them too, but I don't know if this is necessarily a bad thing. The sacrament may not mean as much to them, but
that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit can't still work through the sacrament. The teen still receives the graces from the sacrament, regardless of
their reasons for receiving the sacrament.
One thing that I think would help is if RCIA would be targeted more to young adults and just talked about more in general. Right now there seems to be a sense of it being high school confirmation or nothing. When a teen is preparing to be confirmed, it isn't a question of when they get confirmed, but if they will be confirmed. If a teen decides that they aren't ready to get confirmed, there aren't very many, if any, opportunities for further faith development beyond the set confirmation age.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so
that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 Cornerstone |
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simplejoys123 |
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Posts: 82 03/31/07 10:11 PM |
I felt like chiming in on this one. In a church that practices infant baptism, I believe it is wrong to remove a "believer's" confirmation by
scheduling it for youth, based simply on age attained. You know, how in some denominational circles, the stress is on a :believer's baptism?" I
don't agree with that. I believe baptism should be offered and available to infants, and I like it that Catholics and Episcopalians do so. I don't
think cognitive assent should be required or expected if the child, or mentally challenged adult has a community or family who will support that new Christian.
HOWEVER...the majority of us do develop the ability to freely and cognitively understand what's happening in Confirmation. Confirmation isn't, to me
anyway, in the same category of importance as baptism for assimilation into the Christian community. I was confirmed Roman Catholic as a junior in high
school. Now, understand, I wasn't dragged kicking and screaming against my will to the confirmation cattle calling of junior and senior high school
students, but nor was I hungry and clamoring for it. How neat it would have been for the awakening awareness in my mature faith journey to have had a freely
chosen time for my Confirmation rite available to me, when I felt ready for it. I mean, seriously, just look at the word: Confirmation. That suggests that
the confirmand has some say-so in what's happening??? Now, also understand, I'm not bitter or whatever. But I do feel in a certain way, robbed of
having a self-chosen and initiated moment in my faith journey to take that public step of confirming my faith to the community to which I worship with and
belong - having hands laid on by the bishop. It is a sacrament with so much potential for meaning to the individual, which I contrast in a church which
(rightly!) baptizes infants, which is meaningful in particular to the community welcoming a new member, a new brother or sister in Christ, even if they
can't remember or respond to it themselves as an individual. The truth is, it (Confirmation) felt like an empty ritual to me as a 16 or 17 year old girl
with neither little interest in nor rebelliousness against things churchy. I would have spiritually eaten it up at age 29.
Oh well. My two cents worth. I like the idea of having a meaningful, spiritually based rite of passage for adolescents, designed locally by the individual parish, perhaps with diocesan or national guidance and suggestions for form, and administered by the priest or the youth leaders. I think that's important for the community, and for the adolescent. But the tradition and theology behind the sacrament of confirmation, as I understand it, insists or at least strongly suggests an eager, willful seeking of that sacrament by the confirmand him/herself, not being herded along with the high school CCD class or at the urgings of a parent. I'll have to wait and see what kind of pandora's box I opened with this response of mine when I return from vacation.  (sometime after Easter!)
Talk to you again soon! - Karla
Karla |
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Kim524 |
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Posts: 986 04/03/07 10:52 AM |
I guess my issue with not having a set age is that there would be a lot of people not Confirmed because there isn't a set time for it. So many people in
our society have an "I'll get around to it eventually" mind set, but those things that don't have a set time frame are often over looked or
forgotten. I'm not saying that people should be Confirmed to "get it out of the way" and "check it off the to do list", but I wonder
if I would have been Confirmed if there hadn't been a set age for it. I think my situation is similar to many of the high school students that we work
with. After my younger brother's first Communion, we only went to church on Christmas and Easter and, after a while, not even then. I went to Catholic
school, so I didn't go through the faith formation program at my church. I did the Confirmation program there my Junior year, because that's what was
done. I wasn't bursting at the seams ready for Confirmation, but I also wasn't rebellious towards it. I believed in God and my faith played a role in
my life, but my Confirmation was kind of a "spiritual awakening" for me. The necklace that I wear has an added importance to me because of my
Confirmation. I've received a few Rosaries over the years and, even though it is a rare occurrence for me, when I pray the Rosary, I always use the one
that my dad bought for me at Confirmation. (They were selling home made ones at church as a fundraiser.) If there hadn't been a set age, I wonder if I
would have missed out on the "spiritual awakening" I received at Confirmation.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so
that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 Cornerstone |
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KookinessIsContagious |
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Posts: 314 04/15/07 3:23 PM |
I think what I mean about maximum age is being taught in the high school faith formation, but if they feel they still aren't ready by junior year then they
should take their time and then go through RCIA.
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