Confirmation
Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation
Level of Commitment
Your child is being confirmed! This is a great time of formation, of struggling with their faith and finding their own place in our Church. We are here in Youth Ministry to help make this time as powerful, informative and life-changing as possible, but we cannot do this alone.
Not very many people know this, but confirmation is the final Sacrament of Initiation in the Catholic Church (baptism and Eucharist being the other two). This is the sacrament that completes the process of becoming a full member in our Church. Back in the early Church, confirmation was celebrated with First Communion and baptism for infants! Since the candidates are older today, this involves some new responsibilities on the candidate for confirmation and on the family that is seeking confirmation with them.
Here at St. John Neumann, we take this process very seriously.
Here are the strictly enforced policies for attendance and for paperwork:
Attendance and Tardiness
It is important that all participants make every effort to attend all sessions and the retreat each year. If a candidate knows that he/she will miss a session, it is his/her responsibility to inform the program coordinator and to find out from his/her small group leader what material he/she missed. A candidate can only miss one class over the course of the year, if a candidate misses two or more sessions, he/she will be required to schedule a meeting with the Confirmation coordinators to discuss their options for Confirmation, they may be withdrawn from the program for the year due to excessive absences; the registration fee will not be refunded. The candidate is always welcome to re-enroll either the following year or at such a time when he/she is ready and able to participate fully in faith- and community-building. Again, due to the centrality of responsible participation in a faith community, “make-up work” done at home or “make-up attendance” at another program is generally not a sufficient substitute for attendance at a session. With this being said we are here to serve and partner with you. If you have an emergency, crisis or for some very important reason you have to miss a session, please let us know. Students are advised to put the session dates on their family’s calendar as soon as possible and to try to eliminate any potential conflicts. Students and/or their families experiencing any anxiety or concern related to this expectation should contact the program coordinator.
Attendance, however, is just the beginning! Candidates need to make the most of our time together by engaging and participating fully in the sessions. We are all unique individuals, and we each possess our own gifts and talents. We need to work together to establish a community in which everyone feels comfortable, encouraged, and supported enough to share his/her gifts, talents, and faith so that we all may learn from each other and grow together.
Paperwork
Paperwork for receiving the sacrament is very important that it is turned in on time. Late paperwork may result in your child not being confirmed this year! Reminders of due dates will go out to the teens in the classes, but it is their responsibility to make sure they are turning it in on time.
Extreme Situations
If you have an extreme situation, you must to contact the youth director to work these issues out in an appropriate way. Exceptions will be rare. For instance, if your teen was baptized in a foreign country, acquiring the baptismal certificate may take longer than 20 days. Situations do occur, but please note that a tournament, recital, tests, school projects and homework do not count as extreme situations.
Mass Attendance
Part of the formation process for confirmation is really about renewing your baptismal promises. Baptism initiates us into the new life that Jesus Christ died and rose to give us. The Resurrected Life is the Christian life and the way we are initiated into that life, filled with that life and put into direct contact with Jesus Christ is through the sacramental life of the Church.
Candidates and their families are expected to live this sacramental life, especially during this time of formation. We have placed confirmation after the 5:30pm. Mass to help make it easy for you to do this. The sacrament of reconciliation will be available for the candidates on the retreat, and is available for our parish on Tuesday mornings and Saturday afternoons here in the Worship Space.
FORMS
To download the different forms for Confirmation click the links below
Guidelines for choosing a Confirmation Sponsor
The Choosing of a Christian Name