As Confirmation moves to middle school, parents encouraged to practice family faith
After months of prayer and input from clergy, parish staff and parents with the goal of boosting involvement in youth ministry and better serving families, Archbishop Coakley announced on Sept. 29 a change in placement for the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Preparation for Confirmation will be completed in one year instead of two and will be held in the sixth grade or seventh grade instead of during high school.
“We all need to think deeply about our Church and about the needs of our young people, particularly in light of our modern culture and all of the unique challenges they are facing today,” Archbishop Coakley said.
“We need to equip our children with all of the grace available. Unfortunately, there are a number of youth in high school who have been baptized and received First Communion but never were confirmed, leaving thousands without the gift of Confirmation to strengthen them. It has become common to view Confirmation as a choice to become an adult in the Church. As a sacrament, God offers Confirmation as a free gift that is actually more about God confirming ‘us’ as his children, not us confirming our faith in God. As we move forward, let us focus on supporting our families and parents, and on being thoughtful and intentional in our formation and youth ministry efforts. Thank you to everyone who has collaborated on this challenge and to everyone who will be working to implement the new guidelines in the future.”
Jim Beckman, executive director of the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, said Archbishop Coakley spent more than a year praying and discerning what change the archdiocese needed to make and how to implement it. He said one of the concerns is how this change will happen without it decimating youth ministry, as they witnessed with other dioceses.
“You are taking something that is a staple in the youth ministry arena and you are moving it. I think if you are not purposeful about replacing it with something, you can end up on the other side of the transition with no youth ministry happening,” Beckman said. We want this to be something that fuels, helps grow and catapults youth ministry to be more effective.”
He added that some of the other dioceses that have gone through this transition have used their youth ministers and youth ministry office to assist with the transition effort.
“We are looking into not using those personnel at all. We will engage catechists and catechetical leaders and other adult volunteers at the parishes to help with those transition efforts, so the middle school and high school youth ministries can continue their work and focus on their efforts at the same time,” Beckman said.
Larann Wilson, Ph.D., director of Parish Leadership Engagement for the archdiocese, said at Confirmation young people receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is their helper, healer and guide to live their lives for Christ.
Archbishop Coakley recognized that the baptized youth today need the grace earlier than high school. Secular studies show an increasing experience among today's youth of bullying, drug use, violence, and extreme anxiety and depression at earlier ages. He said youth need to know their dignity and worth as a child of God.
However, a recent CARA study showed that 50 percent of Millennials who were raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholics. Catholic youth who decide to leave the Church do so as early as age 13.
Archbishop Coakley said he would like the youth of the archdiocese to receive the grace of Confirmation earlier, but also to be formed as engaged disciples. The decision on the preparation and celebration of Confirmation is one step among many.
Confirmation is one of three Sacraments of Initiation, along with Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. These sacraments initiate one into full membership of the Church, the Body of Christ. Members of the Church are called to mission – to be disciples and to make disciples. The sacraments are the means Christ chose to pour out his grace to strengthen and assist Catholics in this lifelong mission.
Although no change will be made this year to Confirmation, the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis will assist parishes in preparing for and implementing the transition, which will begin by Fall 2022. Some parishes will begin in Fall 2021. Further guidelines will be distributed to parishes by May 1, 2021.
“In essence, it does not matter what age we place Confirmation if those who receive it have not encountered the Lord and are not open to the gifts of the sacrament,” Wilson said. “Therefore, the transition of Confirmation preparation is more than just changing the age of reception, it is about changing the way we prepare for the sacrament. How we prepare people is more important than when we prepare.”
She said although the Church has an important role to form people in the faith, the Church is not the primary formator of children. Parents are the first teachers of the faith. The home is the domestic church.
“If you want to know the future of a child’s faith, look to the parents’ faith. They are the most effective model and witness to Christian living. Therefore, the archbishop wants to more effectively engage parents and guardians in their vital roles. He desires to see families on fire for the love of Jesus. He desires to see Oklahoma alive with faithful disciples of all ages,” she said.
Jolene Schonchin is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
Ways to nurture faith at home n Go to church as a family; n Pray the Rosary as a family; n Volunteer for church activities as a family; n Teach and model the Seven Virtues; n Reading the Bible as a family and encouraging young people to read the Bible regularly; n Praying as a family and encouraging young people to pray; n Serving people in need as a family and supporting service activities by young people; n Eating together as a family; n Having family conversations, talking about faith, religious issues, questions and doubts; n Ritualizing important family moments and milestone experiences; n Celebrating holidays and church-year seasons at home; n Providing moral instruction.
“Train the young in the way they should go; even when old, they will not swerve from it.” Proverbs 22:6