Blocked Phased-In Implementation of Raising the Age of Confirmation
Year and Grade for the Administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation
NOTES
· Those children in grade 2 in 2009-10 will receive the sacrament of confirmation in one of the following school years according to the block the parish is in: 2009-10, 2010-11, or 2011-12.
· Those children in grade 1 in 2009-10 will receive the sacrament of confirmation in one of the following school years according to the block the parish is in: 2012-13, 2013-14, or 2014-15.
· Those children in kindergarten in 2009-10 will receive the sacrament of confirmation in one of the following school years according to the block the parish is in: 2015-16, 2016-17, or 2017-18.
· Parents should not delay the reception of the sacrament of confirmation until the new normative age is fully implemented. The Code of Canon Law states the following in regard to those to be confirmed, “The faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament at the proper time. Parents and pastors of souls, especially pastors of parishes, are to take care that the faithful are properly instructed to receive the sacrament and come to it at the appropriate time” (Canon 890).
· Separate liturgies for the reception of first Eucharist and the reception of the sacrament of confirmation, as supported by the recommendations of the Diocesan Strategic Planning Committee, will begin in the 2009-10 catechetical year. The parish priest will administer first holy Communion and the bishop will administer the sacrament of confirmation.