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Feb. 2, 2006
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What age for confirmation? |
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Archdiocesan-wide consultation hears pros, cons of options |
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RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT — Fr. Patrick Heppe, priest team moderator of Holy Family Parish, Fond du Lac, administers the sacrament of confirmation to Glenn Ebert Jr., a member of St. Matthew Parish, Campbellsport, on Jan. 28 at Sacred Heart, Fond du Lac. The Fond du Lac parish provides Christian formation and sacramental preparation for people in their area with special needs. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Arendt)
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WHITEFISH BAY — The gathering at Dominican High School Jan. 28 was billed as a study day on the age for reception of the sacrament of confirmation. It was intended to give participants historical and theological information on the sacrament and was the first of a two-part consultation on the age for reception of the sacrament requested by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan.
Even though the focus was on history and study, emotions generated by the topic crept into the discussion, primarily during question and answer periods. Some of the 230 participants, many of whom are involved in religious education, offered strong, passionate comments either in favor of leaving the age for reception of confirmation at 16, junior year in high school, while others were equally passionate about lowering the age.
Archbishop requests recommendation
Herald of Hope Series
on Confirmation
Read Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland's three-part series on the age of
confirmation, written in 1992.
Click here for PDF.
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Kerry Mess, a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, opened the session by explaining that last spring, Archbishop Dolan asked the executive committee of the APC “to consider a request posed to him by a number of the faithful,” that the age for reception of confirmation be lowered.
“Since everyone has an opinion on that question, there’s been an incredible buzz in the archdiocese,” noted Mess. She explained that Archbishop Dolan comes from an archdiocese, St. Louis, where the age is lower than the practice followed in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
“He had never experienced the age as we have here, but he said since being here, he likes it,” said Mess, stressing that the people who posed the question to the archbishop were not priests or religious, but rather lay people.
The archbishop asked the committee to conduct the consultation and offer to him a recommendation on whether or not to change the age. Mess, a teacher at Rufus King High School and member of St. Catherine Parish, Milwaukee, is a member of the committee which includes Bishop Richard J. Sklba, archdiocesan officials Randy Nohl, Laurie Kish, Noreen Welte, and members of the APC: Ed Stuckey, Deacon Jim Leggett, and MAREDA (Milwaukee Archdiocesan Religious Education Directors’ Association) members, Sue Devine Simon and Bob Boehm.
On Saturday, Feb. 25, a day for dialogue and input will be held at the Cousins Center, only for those people who attended the study day at Dominican. By June, the APC is expected to give Archbishop Dolan its recommendation. The decision on the age for reception of confirmation, however, will be made by Archbishop Dolan.
Age varies throughout history
Mess introduced Franciscan Fr. Stephen Malkiewicz, director of worship and instructor in liturgical studies at Saint Francis Seminary, St. Francis. Fr. Malkiewicz, reminding the audience, “anytime we do something liturgically, we are really making a theological statement,” said the age for reception of the sacraments of initiation — baptism, Eucharist and confirmation — has varied greatly over the centuries.
He offered seven contemporary models or experiences of confirmation ranging from confirmation of infants in the Oriental churches immediately after baptism, to confirmation of children younger than grade 8, to confirmation of adolescents or even adults.
Prior to 1910, Fr. Malkiewicz said most Roman Catholics were baptized at birth, made their first confession around the age of reason — often defined as 7 — were confirmed following confession and finally received holy Communion for the first time between ages 10 and 14.
The age for reception of first Communion was lowered in 1910 to age 7.
Following Vatican II, there were renewed efforts to treat the sacraments of initiation as a unit. The 1983 revised Code of Canon Law states that each conference of bishops should determine the age of confirmation. It also stipulates that in the Roman rite, the sacrament should be received after the age of reason, or 7.
U.S. dioceses follow different practices
Following Fr. Malkiewicz’s historical presentation, Ela Milewska, director of parish strategy at Cultivation Ministries, an organization in St. Charles, Ill., that assists in developing Catholic youth ministry across the country, offered an overview of confirmation practices in U.S. dioceses.
Milewska, former director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., gathered data from about 140 dioceses and found that 76 conferred the sacrament in high school; 27 in junior high; 24 did both; and 10 followed “restored order,” which means reception before first Eucharist in the second or third grade.
Milewska polled several of the dioceses and discovered positives and negatives to all ages. For example, dioceses using restored order, including Venice, Fla., Fargo, N.D., and Sioux Falls, S.D., said their reasons for returning to this age are theological and historical. Practical benefits, Milewska found are:
— encourages whole family catechesis
— removes the “carrot” or “graduation mentality,” which she described as a practice that after confirmation, formal religious education stops.
— results in more young people receiving the sacrament.
Drawbacks to this approach, said Milewska, are:
— it causes a drop-off in junior high religious education participation
— it requires more dialogue and preparation by the diocese
— people may not fully understand or embrace the sacrament.
Of the other most common approaches to confirmation, Milewska found that the junior high option was selected because it allows faith formation to occur in Catholic elementary schools and it offers grace for adolescence. Among its benefits, she found are:
— a larger pool of youth to participate
— youth are less resistant at this age
— these youth have fewer time constraints than teenagers.
Drawbacks to the junior high age, Milewska found, are:
— it encourages a “graduation mentality” to the sacrament
— it is less likely to allow for personal affirmation of choice on the part of the young person. Among the dioceses confirming in junior high are Camden, N.J., Charlotte, N.C. and the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Among the 76 dioceses she studied offering confirmation in high school are Boston, Denver, Fresno, Calif. and Duluth, Minn.
Many of the benefits and drawbacks are the same as for other ages. For example high school confirmation:
n encourages teens to take a more adult role in the church
n encourages youth to continue in faith formation.
Drawbacks include:
— less participation
— youth are busy leaving little time for religious education and service
— there is more personal resistance by the youth
— the carrot mentality, she said, exists where “we are holding them captive to receive a sacrament.”
Participants vocal about age
During an open microphone period, intended to be questions for the speakers, some participants emotionally shared their thoughts on what they consider the proper age for confirmation.
One young woman who described herself as a college student said she didn’t think she’d be alive if the confirmation age had been less than 16. “Confirmation saved my life,” she said, explaining she had been suicidal, but her confirmation leaders “helped teach me how valuable life is. Confirmation is something I’ll remember my entire life, but if I were confirmed in eighth grade, I would not have the same role in my church and faith as I do now.”
When asked by the Catholic Herald, Charlene Pettit, a religious educator at Sons of Zebedee: SS. James and John Parish, Byron, said she’s inclined to want the age to stay at its current 11th grade. “The students are more mature and more willing to participate,” she said.
Anther member of Sons of Zebedee: SS. James and John Parish, Alice Newton, a director of religious education for 18 years, concurred. “I see a difference in the maturity level. I was just with a group of 14 year-olds and I see a difference. At 16, the response to confirmation is a personal ‘yes’ to the faith.”
Kathy Smith, a member of St. Mary Parish, Elm Grove, attended as a parent who has had two children confirmed, one currently in preparation and a fourth coming up. She also assists with preparation of adults for confirmation through RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults).
“I like where it is now. I watch the transformation of kids through the whole confirmation process,” she said, adding she sees them learn to embrace their faith.
Smith also brought a letter from Kristin Fredricks addressed to Archbishop Dolan and the members of the confirmation consultation committee.
Fredricks, a confirmed member of St. Mary Parish and a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee, wrote, “High school is a turbulent time for teenagers…. Children in seventh or eighth grade are not mature or experienced enough to make many of the choices high schoolers can make, and choosing to commit oneself as an adult to the church is one of them.”
Smith said Fredricks felt so strongly about the issue that although she was unable to be at the consultation, she wanted her voice to be heard through the letter. |
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