Confirmation:
The next Confirmation date is Friday 8th May 2026 at 4pm in Tourlestrane church.
There are seven sacraments. The Catechism divides them into three categories; initiation, healing, and those at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful.
When we come to celebrate any of the seven sacraments we are creating holy and gracefilled moments, times of healing, reconciliation, nourishment, belonging, courage and risk. They are natural moments in time with the rhythm of our lives. There are significant moments that we want to ritualise, remember, and through which we want to bring our lives into contact with God. We act and we believe that God acts too in our sacramental moments. We are graced by God and challenged to become more like God in our words and actions.
We cannot see God but in our sacramental moments we see and feel the water,we taste the bread and wine, we hear the words and smell the incense, we are comforted and challenged by the oils with which we are anointed and there is God among us.
The sacraments give us the opportunity to come together and remember that we are Church. We are the body of Christ, and it is we who make Christ present in our world today.
Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments and completes our journey of initiation, our journey to become a full member of the church. Confirmation does what the name suggests: it confirms our baptism. It was never meant to do anything else.
Eleven or twelve years ago you brought your child to be baptised. You asked for them to become members of the church. You gave them the gift of faith, which you promised to nourish and encourage as they grow older. Now they are old enough to say yes to that gift for themselves and this is what they do at confirmation. This is their theology of baptism. This is what they understand it to mean.
Like all sacraments we must choose to celebrate it, we must want to celebrate it, and it is important to be sure that you and your child are ready to take this final step on the journey to become a full member of the church.
These children are still very young to be making this decision so they need the support of their parents, sponsors, and the wider faith community to help them. Confirmation is an opportunity to stand up and publicly declare that we believe in the Holy Spirit; the same spirit that was gifted to us in Baptism; the same spirit whose gifts will help us to be people of spirit, people who want to live as Jesus asked us to.
Sponsors
Sponsors are important people on the day of confirmation. They are normally the baptismal sponsor. They stand behind the candidate to affirm their decision to become full members of the church. When we choose our sponsor we should be looking for someone who is trying themselves to be a person of faith, who supports the decision of the candidate to continue their journey of faith. There is not much point in choosing someone who is no longer an active member of the church or someone for whom the church is irrelevant. The choice of sponsor is an opportunity to involve the family in preparation for confirmation.
You might draw up a list of qualities of a good sponsor, writing to invite the person chosen to be sponsor. and including the sponsor, if possible, in some of the preparation for confirmation. Sponsors should normally be at least 16 years of age and confirmed themselves.
Names
Encourage the candidates to choose a saint s name. A new name is often chosen when someone decides to start a new way of life. Think of pop stars, models, and even religious and biblical characters. Suggest that this could become a project for home. Look at the names of people you admire in your family. Are they connected to a saint s name. Research the saInt s name. Write about why the name was chosen.
The renewal of baptismal promises and the anointing with the oil of chrism make the connection between confirmation and baptism more tangible. These actions remind us that the journey of initiation that we complete at Confirmation, began at Baptism. The Holy Spirit was first gifted to us at Baptism. At Confirmation we are given the gifts of the Spirit and it is these gifts that help us to live as full members of the Christian community.
The Bishop
The presence of the Bishop at Confirmation is a visible sign that our church is the universal one. It reminds us that we are part of something much bigger than our own parish. We are members of a huge family, the body of Christ. The Bishop is the ordinary minister of Confirmation. In places where the Bishop does not celebrate Confirmation it might be important to mention that he has the power to delegate this responsibility to other priests.
Celebration of Faith
Confirmation is an opportunity to celebrate what we believe in. It challenges the whole community to look at how they journey with each other as people of faith. It allows us to remember who we are as followers of Christ and members of the Church. As far as possible it should be a community celebration and every opportunity should be made to include the faith community in the celebration on the day.
Preparation
1. Belonging: How do I belong?---- Being a member of the parish, the Church, The Body of Christ.
2. Believing: What do I believe?---- The Creed.
3. Being a Christian: How can I be a Christian?------ The Gifts of the Spirit.
4. Becoming a Witness: How do I share the Good News?----- The Fruits of the Spirit.