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mary
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| Posted: Oct 15 2005 at 12:57pm | IP Logged
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A friend of mine has come back to the faith and would like to have her children (8,5 and 1 yr) baptised. Her church DRE told her that the 8 yr old would have to go through adult RCIA and receive baptism, 1st communion and confirmation at the same time. I realize the boy is above the age of reason, but 8 seems awfully young for confirmation. Is this official church law or is there discretion that her priest could make here? Thanks in advance.
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Willa
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| Posted: Oct 15 2005 at 2:38pm | IP Logged
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Dear Mary,
It's perfectly appropriate for an 8 year old to receive confirmation. In the early Church confirmation was received along with baptism and up till recently, confirmation preceded reception of First Holy Communion (that's still the way converts do it; I was one!)
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Note: the "age of discretion" has traditionally been considered to be about age 7).
"1306 Every baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of Confirmation.123 Since Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist form a unity, it follows that "the faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament at the appropriate time,"124 for without Confirmation and Eucharist, Baptism is certainly valid and efficacious, but Christian initiation remains incomplete.
1307 For centuries, Latin custom has indicated "the age of discretion" as the reference point for receiving Confirmation. But in danger of death children should be confirmed even if they have not yet attained the age of discretion.125
1308 Although Confirmation is sometimes called the "sacrament of Christian maturity," we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need "ratification" to become effective. St. Thomas reminds us of this:
Age of body does not determine age of soul. Even in childhood man can attain spiritual maturity: as the book of Wisdom says: "For old age is not honored for length of time, or measured by number of years. "Many children, through the strength of the Holy Spirit they have received, have bravely fought for Christ even to the shedding of their blood.126"
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Willa
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ALmom
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| Posted: Oct 15 2005 at 4:49pm | IP Logged
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Ditto what Willa has said. It is still common for infants to receive all sacraments of initiation at birth in the Eastern Catholic rites, btw.
Just because a child is confirmed at 8 yo does not mean that he will not need to be instructed in greater detail as he matures, but he will have the graces of Confirmation. What a great blessing to receive this sacrament at this age - and what benefits the child will surely receive in all the extra years of the Holy Spirit giving him the strength needed to stand firm in the faith.
Janet
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mary
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| Posted: Oct 15 2005 at 8:10pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for responding. I guess I was thinking of how much prep is generally involved in Confirmation and thus surprised that he would receive the sacrament already. I have heard of churches doing reconciliation in 4th grade instead of before 1st Communion, so I wondered if there was some official age for these sacraments or if it's soley the decision of the individual churches.
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5athome
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| Posted: Oct 15 2005 at 8:30pm | IP Logged
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I believe there is some discretion on this -- we are currently going through the same thing. However, our priest initially would not allow the older children to even be baptized until they had completed at least 1 year of RE plus supplemental classes.
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Willa
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| Posted: Oct 16 2005 at 7:44am | IP Logged
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Dear Mary,
I think some prep is necessary, but not as much as local churches sometimes require. In our area there is two years prep for FHC and then 2 years prep for Confirmation in the teenage years. It's well meaning, but in some ways way more than necessary. We can lose sight of the fact that the Sacraments are effective in and of themselves and are not a sort of graduation diploma. Perhaps the sacraments are more like seeds and the sun and water to grow them, and the previous preparation is more like tilling and fertilizing the soil of the soul to foster the proper disposition to receive them.
That's just another way of stating Janet's point that we deepen our understanding as we continue to receive the Sacraments -- when I received FHC and Confirmation, at the age of 27, I certainly didn't have the understanding I do now, but I was well prepared as I could have been THEN, at that time. The Sacraments themselves have given me the means to grow, along with continuing instruction by the Church and its treasurehouse of wisdom, and no doubt will continue to do so until the day I die.
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Willa
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Willa
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| Posted: Oct 16 2005 at 8:07am | IP Logged
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Also, the Church does not approve first confession after First Holy Communion; She has spoken on this specifically. When local churches allow or order this, they are going beyond their proper boundaries of discretion:
First confession precedes First Holy Communion
"IV. Code of Canon Law
Canon 914. It is the responsibility, in the first place, of parents and those who take the place of parents as well as of the pastor to see that children who have reached the use of reason are correctly prepared and are nourished by the divine food as early as possible, preceded by sacramental confession; it is also for the pastor to be vigilant lest any children come to the Holy Banquet who have not reached the use of reason or whom he judges are not sufficiently disposed."
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Willa
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momwise
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We were discussing this at a homeschool mother's gathering. I brought up the point that I can't believe the Church is willing for her adolescent members to go through public middle schools without it. It is still a necessary sacrament after that but the kids have gone through "hell" without it so to speak by the time they are 12 yrs. old.
Willa wrote:
| In our area there is two years prep for FHC and then 2 years prep for Confirmation in the teenage years. It's well meaning, but in some ways way more than necessary. |
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That's a gentle way of putting it Willa. The overemphasis on the intellectual preparation for Confirmation and the "choice" to be a fully mature Catholic (which has nothing to do with maturing physically as someone pointed out) has led 2 generations or more to believe that after Confirmation you're through learning about the faith!!
I would be ecstatic if a priest would offer Confirmation at 1st Holy Communion or even beforehand. Since the Church teaches the age of reason is 7, I do not understand most of the bishops' unwillingness to make this a freely available sacrament at age 7.
I have a 9 yr old who wants to be a priest someday. I plan to present him (somewhere) for Confirmation this year. We'll see.........
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"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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mary
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| Posted: Oct 16 2005 at 10:45pm | IP Logged
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Willa, Janet, and Gwen, what you have said makes a lot of sense. I will pass along that viewpoint to my friend. I did know that Reconcilliation was to be before 1st Communion, but that sure doesn't seem to stop some parishes from putting it in the opposite order.
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ALmom
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Without baptism, you cannot receive the Sacrament of Confession, but Baptism itself removes all sin and all punishment due to sin. When dh was received into the church, this was an awesome thought. He did choose to make a general confession of his whole life very shortly after he was baptised.
I know in our diocese the age of Confirmation is determined by the local parish. One parish does it in 8th another in 9th, another in later high school. However, our daughter requested it earlier, and was Confirmed at that time. I do know that the Sacraments cannot be denied willy-nilly. Certainly, they can be denied if the child is truely not ready, unprepared, etc. but my understanding is that age is not one of the reasons for denial.
I think the later age of Confirmation has very little to do with Spriritual - and more to do with the deplorable level of faith formation. We have heard DREs speak of delaying Confirmation as long as possible because that keeps the kids in CCD and they can continue to try and form them, teach them, etc. Otherwise, as soon as they are Confirmed, they hardly ever see them again. Our dd in the Confirmation Class now was shocked to think that kids had to be asked to sign a paper saying they would participate at Mass at least once per week.
The reason given for our second dd being a part of the classes this time was that she needed to feel a part of the community so she wouldn't feel like she didn't know anybody at the actual Confirmation. Personally, I think that is a rather ridiculous reason, but we willingly go because the actual DRE/presenter does a good job and we like her handouts - although with 70 kids in the room at once its pretty hard to concentrate on anything at the time.
I do believe the dc need the graces of the Sacrament of Confirmation before they are faced with the very worldly pressures.
Janet
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Topic: question about 8yr old and confirmation
