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June 17, 2020In the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis comprises seven different offices that support the Church’s mission of educating and preparing its members to “Go Make Disciples.” A vital part of that mission is to provide the tools and support for sacramental preparation that is the foundation of our commitment to the Catholic faith.
In July, Archbishop Coakley approached Executive Director Jim Beckman with a request to launch a task force to update and revise policies and procedures for sacramental preparation throughout the archdiocese.
By August, the Sacramental Preparation Revision Task Force had been created and held its first meeting, outlining a process for retrieving as much input and feedback as possible from individuals across the archdiocese. Members of the 15-person task force include priests, deacons, school principals and parish staff.
The task force has been closely examining current policies and conducting extensive research that will assist them in making recommendations for updates and revisions in all sacramental preparation areas – Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.
In the area of Confirmation, the main focus of the task force is to provide a recommendation regarding the age at which it is received. A rapid decline in the number of youth receiving the sacrament has sparked concerns that the Church is losing its youth.
A survey of all priests in the archdiocese conducted in January revealed that 80 percent were in favor of lowering the Confirmation age to allow children to receive the sacramental graces earlier in life. One of the benefits of the change would be the opportunity to shift the focus from sacramental preparation to cultivating and strengthening a relationship with God during their teenage years.
Beckman emphasized the importance of communicating an impending change of this significance to parishioners.
“We want everyone to be aware that this is happening,” he said. “We want everyone to help by telling us what you think.”
In February, the task force launched the information-gathering phase broadly across the archdiocese. A website was created to allow Catholics to actively participate in the process, learn more about the mission of the task force and provide feedback.
A recent article in the National Catholic Register explained that, on average, most young people abandon the Catholic faith in their middle school years, and many who do receive the sacrament have already begun “checking out” of their faith. Overwhelmed with academic responsibilities and commitments to sports and other extracurricular activities, many teens have placed low or no priority on their faith formation.
This stark reality has inspired dioceses to lower the age at which an individual receives the sacrament. In 1910, Saint Pius X lowered the age of first communion to the “age of discretion,” typically around age 7. However, Confirmation age did not change with that decision, leaving it at around age 14.
Canon law now allows bishops the choice to set the typical age for administering Confirmation from the age of discretion to age 16. As of February, at least 13 dioceses in the United States had lowered Confirmation age, which revised the order of the sacraments of initiation to baptism, confirmation, then first communion.
The task force plans to use the next few months to make a final push for feedback before presenting the results of their research to Archbishop Coakley this fall. Beckman explained that to implement this change successfully, input from every level must be considered.
“We are looking for the best way to put the pieces into place,” he said. “Everyone’s voice matters and we want to hear from you.”
Sally Linhart is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
To take the survey or to learn more about Confirmation research, go online to archokc.org/confirmationresearch. The survey will close on July 17.
Photo: Archbishop Coakley blessed a student being confirmed at Church of the Epiphany of the Lord in 2018. Photo Cara Koenig/Sooner Catholic.
