Confirmation
Preparation
The parish offers faith formation to children every Sunday and Wednesday. The family chooses which day to sign up for during the fall and is granted according to availability. The course is three years long, so children can start taking classes at 11. The parents are also asked to attend adult faith formation twice a month. The parish asks for their baptismal certificate at the time of registration.
By the 2nd year, the children will have a godparent picked out. By the third year, the children are to pick a saint, write a letter to the bishop, pass a written/oral exam, and have an interview with the pastor. The child also accomplishes hours of service to the community and the parish, as well as adoration hours.
Godparents/Sponsors are to fill out a sponsor suitability form:
About Confirmation
Bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation, [the baptized] are endowed by the Holy Spirit with special strength; hence, they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed as true witnesses of Christ. (no. 11)
Scriptural Foundation for Confirmation
In the Acts of the Apostles, we read about the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. While baptism is the sacrament of new life, confirmation gives birth to that life. Baptism initiates us into the Church and names us as children of God, whereas confirmation calls us forth as God’s children and unites us more fully to the active messianic mission of Christ in the world.
