Don't wait for Confirmation.

Because most catholic adults today received Confirmation after their First Communion, they assume that this is the normal order for these sacraments. They find it hard to understand that the order in which they received the sacraments is actually backward.

The church has three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist. It is presumed in the church's ritual, in its catechism, and in its Code of Canon Law that the three sacraments will be received in that order.

The Code of Canon Law tells us that the sacrament of Confirmation is to be conferred on the faithful at the age of discretion -- that is, 7 or 8 years old. In putting Confirmation at that age, the code reflects accurately most of the history of the church, during which Confirmation preceded First Communion.

Confirmation in the early centuries of the church was understood as the completion of Baptism. This anointing after Baptism was the last step before the catechumen went into the eucharistic assembly and received Holy Communion for the first time. Such was, and is, the normative pattern for these sacraments of initiation, as we see clearly in the Easter Vigil reception of adult converts.

Once Catholics have received First Communion, they are fully initiated members of the church, as Catholic as the pope or the bishops. There is no second-degree membership in the church. Receiving Confirmation after First Communion is like a bride getting an engagement ring on her fifth wedding anniversary.

There has been some confusion in recent church history about the origins and meaning of Confirmation. Some think it is unchangeably true, and revealed by Jesus himself, that this sacrament makes us "strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ." They remember the bishop giving children a slight slap on the cheek to remind them that they must be ready to suffer for Christ and the faith. In the new Rite of Confirmation, however, the slap is gone, and the phrase "strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ" has disappeared from the catechism. Confirmation never did make young, innocent, and immature Catholics ideal warriors for Christ.

In the United States, because of differing practices in the dioceses and different emphases on the meaning of Confirmation by various groups, the bishops received permission from Rome -- for five years, from May 1994 to July 1999 -- to administer Confirmation to the faithful anytime between the ages of 7 and 18. Because the U.S. bishops could not agree on a particular age, they asked Rome to allow a wide divergence of practice.

Since 1990, Bishop James Griffin of the Columbus, Ohio diocese has allowed my parish to combine Confirmation and First Communion for secondgraders. In these seven years our bishop has had a chance to compare this practice with other parishes of the diocese that administer Confirmation in junior high school.

After a recent celebration of the combined sacraments in my parish, the bishop remarked to me that many of the parents seemed deeply moved and close to tears. He found them to be more intensely moved by the liturgy than parents were at other Confirmations celebrated separately. To explain the difference, consider the following facts.

With second-graders, there is no parent-child hassle about whether the child is to be confirmed. Firm believers in Jesus, the sacraments, and the church, the children want to be confirmed and their parents are happy to help them.

Junior high school students, however, have entered into adolescence, with its normal rebellion against authority. In that stage, questioning their faith is common. Asking them at this time in their lives to make a commitment to a faith with which they are struggling is unnatural at best and cruel at worst.

Combining Confirmation and First Communion in the second grade makes the occasion a family feast. Often four generations of family are present, all joyful and happily celebrating. Parents, alienated from each other, come together for this celebration. Their children and families experience, if only for a day, what all believe in their hearts marriage and family should be like.

In our parish, parents instruct their children for Confirmation and First Communion. They have, therefore, not only a sense of accomplishment when their children receive these sacraments, but they also learn what initiation into the church means. They have taught it to their children, and the best way to learn is to teach.

Sponsors are carefully chosen for our confirmands so that only active, practicing Catholics take this office. They, too, can and do participate with enthusiasm in the liturgy because they are able to partake fully with good conscience in the Eucharist.

The church teaches that the Eucharist is the goal and summit of our life of faith. When children receive Confirmation before First Communion, they know from their experience the truth of what the church teaches. To give a sacrament of initiation to a person who has received First Communion makes no sense -- and that's part of the reason people try to redefine Confirmation.

When the bishop, the chief priest of the local church, presides at a child's Confirmation and First Communion, the experience powerfully teaches second graders. The renewal of baptismal promises, the anointing with chrism after Baptism, the invoking of the Spirit, and the sharing in the one bread and the one cup of the Lord tell the children they have now become full-fledged members of the Body of Christ.

Parents and sponsors watch and listen. As they participate in the completion of initiation of their children into the church, the Body of Christ, they learn that the Eucharist is the high point of the life of the church. That Body of Christ, into which they were incorporated by the sacraments of initiation, is most fully realized when they personally participate in the Eucharist.

Many say children are too young to be confirmed in second grade. Clearly, however, if infants can be baptized -- and in the Eastern Church, confirmed and allowed to share the Eucharist -- then they are not too young for Confirmation. Even the new Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that chronological age or maturity are not required for Confirmation.

Not a few parents and catechists seem to think of Confirmation as a graduation rite from CCD classes. They fear that if we confirm second graders we will lose them from further religious education classes. We have not found that to be the case. Giving up CCD in junior high school has more to do with adolescent rebellion than it has to do with Confirmation. We should not use a sacrament as bait to get our youngsters to religion classes.

While youth ministers recognize the need for some rite of passage for adolescents, they should not try to use the sacrament of Confirmation for this purpose. If such a rite is needed, we should get busy with liturgical experts and develop a new rite, a new ceremony for graduating youth.

Resistance to placing Confirmation in its proper place before First Communion ultimately seems to rest on two shaky premises. One premise insists that Confirmation is a rite of Christian maturity, where the word maturity is understood incorrectly in a psychological and sociological sense. This mind-set still likes to see those preparing for Confirmation do something hard for Jesus. Confirmation is not what they think it is. It is, according to the catechism, the completion of Baptism.

The other premise is the belief that bishops will not have the time, nor desire, to give First Communion to all the Catholic youngsters in their diocese. Celebrating Confirmation and First Communion at the same Mass will complicate the lives of bishops of larger dioceses. As a result the presbyter may have to become the ordinary minister of Confirmation, as he already is in the reception of adult converts.

If bishops wish to remain the ordinary minister of Confirmation for those baptized in infancy, it probably behooves them to keep Confirmation and First Communion separate. But it is just possible that bishops would prefer to be seen and known more as sacramental presiders than as temporal administrators.

When all is said and done, there really is no excuse for continuing the anomalous practice of confirming people who have already made their First Communion. Let's get the order of our sacraments of initiation right.

If children are confirmed at age 7 or 8, the result will be:

It would be a farce. I've taught these ages. They may verbalize some pat answers and in their innocent simplicity feel they want to live their faith, but they have no life experiences nor intellectual comprehension to make a life commitment at this age.

Patricia M. Wondra Mayville, Wis.

They won't feel like second-class members of the parish in adolescence but can grow up as full-fledged Catholics.

Audrey Novak Riley Oak Park, Ill.

Some parents would feel their children's religious education is now complete, when in actuality it is just beginning.

Imelda E. Barry Elkhart Lake, Wis.

The sacraments of initiation will be received and could be a source of God's presence and growth for youth. They will live their faith at an earlier age -- children of this age are firm believers in Jesus.

Sister George Antoinette Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Cookie-cutter sacraments. Children age 7 or 8 cannot grasp the full significance of Confirmation. Parents are making decisions about religion, but the children are not. When do children make decisions about their own faith?

Marikae Moraski Bellevue, Wash.

The sacrament will lose all meaning. It is the only sacrament that relies only on a conscious grasp of an idea and whose purpose must be accepted intellectually.

Joshua P. D'Esposito Naperville, Ill.

First Communion and Confirmation should not be combined because:

They would soon be seen as one by the children and their families.

Mary C. Joseph Cincinnati, Ohio 

They are directed to two different age levels. We must make deliberate efforts that reception of the sacraments is not a social affair but a step toward making a greater commitment to living the Christian life.

Sister Marcine Klemm, O.P. Adrian, Mich.

It only goes part way in correcting a bad situation. I fear it would be more confusing to people. If you really want to correct this situation, go back to before Pope Pius X -- confirm them in middle school and give them Eucharist at junior high age.

Catherine Sims Mount Prospect, Ill.

The true nature and meaning of the sacraments would be effectively weakened. If this notion comes from bishops, they should be defrocked.

Father Robert Ladamus Milford, Conn.

First Communion and Confirmation should be combined because:

Right now Confirmation is a dangling sacrament -- disjointed, experienced out of context. If we believe Eucharist is the fullness of Christian initiation, we need to practice that in the life of faith.

Carolyn Hunt Sartell, Minn.

That is the natural order of them. In a time when Catholics are resistant to change or are traditionalists, it should please them to see a change that takes things back to the way they once were.

Michael Thurlaw Augusta, Me.

Each rite intensifies the meaning of the other. It makes more sense to combine them.

Mary Gautier Fort Worth, Tex.

There is no good reason to separate them; Confirmation completes Baptism. Adult converts are baptized, confirmed, and then receive Communion. Why not follow the same pattern for youngsters?

Rita Conley Maumelle, Ark.

I think the purpose of Confirmation is:

Grace to grow in faith, knowledge of our faith, and appreciation of God's place in our lives.

Name withheld Boston, Mass.

God invoking his power to human beings through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is not a human rite of passage; it is an acknowledgment to God that the individual has made the commitment of Baptism.

John W. Hivner Millington, Tenn.

Misunderstood historically, poorly catechized about in most communities, and largely perceived as "necessary, but I don't know for what." I'd put it in the category with Confession for most Catholics: totally optional and without significant impact.

Debbie Stollery Virginia Beach, Va.

To release the power of the Holy Spirit so we can be guided and protected from worldly living.

Donna Albert Park Ridge, Ill.

To initiate young people into adult Catholicism. The service program associated with preparation for Confirmation is hopefully an introduction to becoming active, socially concerned Catholics.

Sister Catherine Holtkamp Melbourne, Ky.

Comments

If parents see Christian education as ending with Confirmation, perhaps we need to require CCD for parents, too.

Mary Ann Kelly Milford, Ill.

What makes the practice of the early church so "right" and our present practice so "wrong"? Might the Holy Spirit be at work in our practice of confirming at a later age?

Father Ray Van Dorpe, C.M. Pueblo, Colo.

To ask an adolescent for commitment to the tradition and faith of their family and the church when they are seeking identity apart from parents and authority seems at best counter-productive. Why not give them all they can have early on to strengthen them in their teen years?

Pat McCarthy Casper, Wyo.

There is no mention anywhere here of the common practice of preparing children for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist almost simultaneously, most often in the same school year. To add Confirmation to this seems to be too much.

Name withheld Greenwood, Ind.

If 65 percent of adult Catholics recently polled aren't sure of Jesus' Real Presence and the church's teaching of transubstantiation, and we can them full members, why shouldn't 8-year-olds be? We accept members on the basis of faith -- their faith and our faith in them to grow in God's grace.

Randy Dennis Kalamazoo, Mich.

I cannot ten you when I was confirmed, other than probably seventh or eighth grade. My memory is mostly of the terror inflicted by the nuns that we would be rejected from the church if we could not answer the bishop's questions.

F. E. Fay South Bethany, Del.

Being of the pre-Vatican II generation, I probably should say, "Nuts, leave well enough alone." But Father John Dreese's essay convinced me that realignment is better.

Paul A. Kasper Riverside, Ill.

This is a good, logical argument by Father Dreese, but the heart is missing. The article misses the point: does the individual or child understand the meaning of Confirmation and Eucharist? If the child can say "Jesus is Lord," there is a good chance that the process is completed already.

David Geiger Paterson, N.J.

I don't think it matters if they are combined -- good arguments can be made for combining Baptism and Confirmation as well. The point is to sequence the three sacraments of initiation properly -- Baptism first, then Confirmation, then Eucharist.

Christine Shamblin Columbus, Ohio

Feedback

When it comes to deciding the most appropriate Wage for Catholics to receive Confirmation, U.S. Catholic readers will at best agree to disagree.

Only 32 percent agree with Father John Dreese that children should receive Confirmation at ages 6 to 8, and 37 percent agree that Confirmation should be combined with First Communion. While 70 percent of respondents were themselves confirmed between ages 9 and 14, just 32 percent now think this is the best age.

Altogether, readers cite every age group, from infancy to adulthood, as the correct time for Confirmation. Here is a sample of their reasons:

* 0-2 -- "We should return to the practice of the early church and baptize, confirm, and give Eucharist at the same time."

* 6-8 -- "If Confirmation is receiving the fullness of the Spirit, why wait any longer?"

* 15-17 -- "Asking adolescents to make a faith commitment is neither cruel nor unnatural. It is crucial to their maturity, responsibility, and faith."

* adult -- "Let's not try to collect Catholics. Let's try to get faithful Christians who choose to be in full communion."

* any age -- "We do not control the Spirit of God. Starting with age 7, they should be invited to complete initiation."

Clearly the most perplexing question on the survey was, "What would be a better rite of passage for adolescents than Confirmation?" One reader, Joseph Moran in Boulder City, Nevada, pleads outright ignorance. "Liturgical experts and child-education experts will have to figure this one out. (I'm a geophysicist!)" (Which only proves that the sacraments are not rock science.)

What, then, do the experts have to say? Carolyn Hunt, a graduate student of theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, responds by quoting her theology professor: "If there is to be a sacrament of adolescence, most properly it should be the Anointing of the Sick!" Does the professor have any teenagers at home, by any chance?

Read on for more responses and survey results.