Best catholic confirmation programs

Renew or manage your subscription here. Give a Gift Subscription Bless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register. Order Bulk Subscriptions Get a discount on 6 or more copies sent to your parish, organization or school. Subscribe Support the register. Ella Hadacek Features September 21, Chosen Chosen is a new program produced and hosted by youth speaker Chris Stefanick, who has worked in parish youth ministry for 15 years. Ella Hadacek. Show Comments.

Related Stories Latest News Blogs. Charles Pope Sunday Guide. John Grondelski Blogs. Joseph M. Eble, MD Blogs. Hilary of Poitiers. Subscription Options x. Subscribe Start your Register subscription today. Order Now Order Bulk Subscriptions Get a discount on 6 or more copies sent to your parish, organization or school. Sign Up. Frankly, the law is a mess, and I hope that a future edition of the Code of Canon Law will rectify the matter, both in terms of simplifying who can confirm and in establishing a mandatory age for confirmation the patchwork of ages we have in the United States—ages which vary from one diocese to another and allow confirmation to be treated as a "coming of age" sacrament that leads to nonsense like co-ed sleepovers—is just set up to cause problems.

The law allows for that if certain conditions are met. Here are the relevant canons:. A presbyter who possesses this faculty must use it for the sake of those in whose favor the faculty was granted. He will not have the faculty by law to confirm her, so he would need a special grant from his own bishop can. The problem with problematic pre-confirmation programs that you are encountering is a widespread one, and the faithful have tried a variety of means in dealing with it.

I have also known of cases where people took their children down to Mexico to be confirmed by a bishop there. There have also been cases where they took their children to be confirmed by an SSPX bishop, and Rome ruled that doing this was not a schismatic act. The Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches also provides for the possibility of having Latin children confirmed by an Eastern priest. There is a question in my mind, however, whether you should be exploring this kind of matter or whether you should take an entirely different approach.

While the law allows for such things, in view of the signal that could be sent to your daughter by pursuing them and in view of the fact that you will have Rome on your side in avoiding the sleepover—and even the worthless classes themselves—a different potential course of action recommends itself.

Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has interpreted this canon in such a way that diocesan policy is subordinated to the right of the faithful to receive the sacraments if they are otherwise qualified to receive it.

Diocesan policy is then regarded as a template for ensuring the orderly administration of the sacraments, but exceptions must be made to it if sacramentally qualified members of the faithful insist on exercising their right to receive the sacrament. Thus there was a case a few years ago in which the parents of an eleven year old girl wanted their child confirmed in a diocese which did not ordinarily perform confirmation until some time later. The matter was appealed to the CDW and the response came back that.

As has been stated before, the Code of Canon Law legislates that Sacred Ministers may not deny the Sacraments to those who opportunely ask for them, are properly disposed and are not prohibited by law from receiving them cf. Since it has been demonstrated that the girl possesses these requisite qualities, any other considerations, even those contained in the Diocesan Policy, need to be understood in subordination to the general norms governing the reception of the Sacraments.

The Congregation considers it useful to point out that it is the role of the parents as the primary educators of their children and then of the Sacred Pastors to see that candidates for the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation are properly instructed to receive the Sacrament and come to it at the opportune time cf. Consequently, when a member of the faithful wishes to receive this Sacrament, even though not satisfying one or more elements of the local legislation e.

Indeed, the longer the conferral of the Sacrament is delayed after the age of reason, the greater will be the number of candidates who are prepared for its reception but are deprived of its grace for a considerable period of time. In conclusion, this Congregation for Divine Worship must insist, given the concrete circumstances of the case under consideration, that the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation be extended to the girl as soon as is conveniently possible [ SOURCE ].

I would say all this as graciously as possible and offer to demonstrate that the daughter has been suitably instructed.

I would act as if it is assumed that this will not be a problem. If resistance is met, I would then show them the CDW letter linked above and explain how the principles in it relate to this situation. If resistance continues, I would elevate the matter to the attention of the bishop, and if a satisfactory solution is still not reached, I would elevate the matter to the attention of the CDW, at all times showing proper respect and politeness to the parties involved.

Whether you do this or pursue the plan you originally outlined or allow your daughter to go thorugh the problematic program and make up for its deficiences as best you can at home is a matter that you will ultimately have to decide based on your knowledge of the situation, and it is a judgement call, but I wanted to call your attention to another possibility that you may not have considered.

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in he entered the Catholic Church. That may give them the opportunity to exert a little control over what is taught and what sorts of activities are allowed at the retreat.

That and at least one parent might be able to go along in a chaperoning role. I worked on the teaching team for a confirmation class years ago, and a campground with bunkhouses was chosen as the retreat site. As it was early spring and cold at night, the pajama choices were very, very modest! Just an idea. Call me crazy. I would love to have parents very involved in our confirmation prep, and they can go on the overnight retreat.

The only proviso I would put on that would be that when parents are involved in a group activity, the rules and discipline have to be uniform for all kids — no special rules for one child because his or her mom is there. I recall an outing — not a retreat but an 8th grade trip that was overnight — that had some parents along.

The main problems I saw were unevenness and lack of clarity in rules and discipline. I was not in charge; one of the teachers was. Participation in parish prep programs is voluntary. Sorry for the long post — I should make clear, the story I told was when I was a parochial vicar at another parish, not pastor. Excellent post, Jimmy! Dear friends of mine went through something terribly similar to this.

In their case, one of the daughters of a good homeschool family who are friends of theirs ended up pregnant after one of these sleep over church retreats! One positive that came from the ordeal was that finally the program was scrutinized with a more Catholic perspective, and the youth minister and the D. E were soon dismissed. Considering all the damage done, that seems too mild, but at least it put parents on their guard and protected future youth groups from this outrageous program.

CMinor makes the excellent point that parents those who know their Faith, most especially need to be involved in these programs from the beginning! I cannot understand what the heck any of this sort of business is supposed have to do with the sacraments? Even adding a bunch of parents into the mix would not help if the focus is all wrong. Kids that age are raging with hormones.

What help do these priests and program directors think they are providing when all they are doing is creating the near occasion of sin? I am not blaming Fr Fox for it, I am sure he is only following what he thinks the more knowledgeable DRE and parents suggest to him, but he should think about it from a more Catholic perspective. I mean, imagine St Therese of Lisieux going on an overnight co-ed sleep over!

While I thought the leadership on this trip was at fault as described , I am unaware of any actual impropriety, and there were other steps taken to avoid that, such as spot checks of rooms and baggage. I am not against an overnight retreat, done properly.

But again, what I described was not a retreat. Martin Fox brings up a point that I think needs to be reiterated over and over.

These rigorous, lengthy confirmation programs give the idea that confirmation is a sort of graduation. Once you are confirmed you have all the information you need. We are then left with Catholics whose religious education and understanding stopped at eighth grade or whenever confirmation occurred. Confirmation is a sacrament of initiation. It is a beginning. I am currently teaching 7th grade CCD which is the confirmation prep year for our parish. If I can convince these children that learning about the Faith is a lifelong process I will consider myself successful.

Our books and curriculum provide a wealth of good orthodox information on the faith, but there is so much pressure to pass the final exam that I really feel pressured to teach to the test.

Martin, you were clear. I can empathize with the parents. I pulled my daughter out of my parishes confirmation program because I felt that it was doing more harm than good. I had long talks with the instructor and the program director youth minister , both who tried to tell me that my fears were ungrounded. They were unable to persuade me.

I hope to have her enrolled next year in the adult confirmation program. As others have already lamented, that student and several others did not continue to come to class after confirmation, although a promise to do so was part of the whole program. Jimmy, Thanks so much for this article! One of our sons is ready to be confirmed as a Freshman in HS.

Our parish prefers Soph-Seniors. We are pushing forward with putting him in the program our hope is that it will be relatively orthodox; we have a good pastor , even though it violates the parish preferences. You have just given us the ammunition to make our case.

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