Baptized Christians "are more perfectly bound to the Church by the sacrament of Confirmation, and the Holy Spirit endows them with special strength so that they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ"
-Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, #11
The Sacrament of Confirmation seals us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, giving us the spiritual courage to be a living witness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Gospel.
Confirmation does not complete our formation as Christian; it equips us with the grace needed to continue to grow toward spiritual perfection throughout our whole life.
To properly receive Confirmation, a full and sincere commitment to live according to the teachings of the Church and to practicing the faith is required. The grace cooperates with our free will, and without our honest intention to live as faithful Catholics, the sacrament will not bear fruit.
Typically, Confirmation is celebrated at the end of tenth grade, after a two-year program of preparation. Each proposed confirmand must be registered and all fees paid prior to attending the first meeting.
PLEASE NOTE: Confirmation is not guaranteed at the end of the two-year period. As a sacrament oriented toward the evanglizing mission of the Church, the members of the Church have a vested interest and a say in the preparedness of anyone approaching with the request to be confirmed. As such, candidates will only be presented for Confirmation when the pastor, the catechetical team, the sponsor, and the candidate all agree that (s)he is ready.
Your child will be unable to attend meetings if not properly registered and paid. For the safety of your child(ren), other children, the catechists and our parish, please be sure all registration forms are complete and on record.
Adults--that is, people over the age of 18--seeking Confirmation will be placed with the Adult Faith Formation team for instruction. The candidate will be presented for Confirmation once the formation team, the pastor, the sponsor, and the candidate all agree that (s)he is ready to accept the responsibility associated with being confirmed.
Confirmation, together with Baptism and First Eucharist, form the Sacraments of Initiation that are all intimately connected. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is "sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" and is strengthened for service to the Body of Christ.
The prophets of the Old Testament foretold that God's Spirit would rest upon the Messiah to sustain his mission. Their prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus the Messiah was conceived by the Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus on the occasion of his baptism by John.
Jesus' entire mission occurred in communion with the Spirit. Before he died, Jesus promised that the Spirit would be given to the Apostles and to the entire Church. After his death, he was raised by the Father in the power of the Spirit.
Those who believed in the Apostles' preaching were baptized and received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. The Apostles baptized believers in water and the Spirit. Then they imparted the special gift of the Spirit through the laying on of hands. By the second century, Confirmation was also conferred by anointing with holy oil, which came to be called sacred Chrism. "This anointing highlights the name 'Christian,' which means 'anointed' and derives from that of Christ himself whom God 'anointed with the Holy Spirit'" (CCC, no. 1289, citing Acts 10:38).