I have a friend who rightly insisted her borderline high school daughter be confirmed. Her priest was hesitant to support the request because he feared that conferring the sacrament would suddenly mean the child—a non-driving minor still under the direct and constant authority of her active, faithful parents—would suddenly cease to come …
I have a friend who rightly insisted her borderline high school daughter be confirmed. Her priest was hesitant to support the request because he feared that conferring the sacrament would suddenly mean the child—a non-driving minor still under the direct and constant authority of her active, faithful parents—would suddenly cease to come to Mass. This mindset of using a sacrament as a carrot or stick, while arising from a place of concern for souls and a sincere desire to keep them coming to Mass, is ultimately a detriment. It breaks cannon law, withholds grace, and treats the sacraments as rites of passage not encounters with the Living God.
Yes. All of that. Once I started thinking about it, I was appalled by the fact that we deliberately send children to public schools without the Sacramental grace of Confirmation. From a Church militant standpoint, that's like sending civilians to the front lines with sticks. Sacramental graces don't guarantee salvation or faithfulness, but they certainly aren't mere feathers in the cap either. They provide real aid.
If the parents aren't faithful, I can see witholding it, for the same reason that Baptism can be withheld if the parents aren't faithful or willing to do the work to raise the kid Catholic. But a blanket delay seems an awful lot like refusing to distribute Holy Communion to the laity for a decade because some (possibly many) receive sacrilegiously. How many adults would be on board with that?
Excellent analogy. Maybe the dismal state of the culture and the recognition that probably upward of 75 percent of Catholic children are in highly secular public schools will cause the USCCB to advocate the restored order.
I wrote that analogy thinking that it's weak point was that Holy Communion is received weekly, while Confirmation is received once.
Ten minutes later, I repent. The graces from Sacraments like Baptism, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Confirmation are not one-time things, they are constant things. It might actually be worse than withholding Holy Communion for 10 years, since the graces are constant rather than weekly or daily.
We can certainly pray that the USCCB (or even individual bishops) return to the traditional age.
I have a friend who rightly insisted her borderline high school daughter be confirmed. Her priest was hesitant to support the request because he feared that conferring the sacrament would suddenly mean the child—a non-driving minor still under the direct and constant authority of her active, faithful parents—would suddenly cease to come to Mass. This mindset of using a sacrament as a carrot or stick, while arising from a place of concern for souls and a sincere desire to keep them coming to Mass, is ultimately a detriment. It breaks cannon law, withholds grace, and treats the sacraments as rites of passage not encounters with the Living God.
Yes. All of that. Once I started thinking about it, I was appalled by the fact that we deliberately send children to public schools without the Sacramental grace of Confirmation. From a Church militant standpoint, that's like sending civilians to the front lines with sticks. Sacramental graces don't guarantee salvation or faithfulness, but they certainly aren't mere feathers in the cap either. They provide real aid.
If the parents aren't faithful, I can see witholding it, for the same reason that Baptism can be withheld if the parents aren't faithful or willing to do the work to raise the kid Catholic. But a blanket delay seems an awful lot like refusing to distribute Holy Communion to the laity for a decade because some (possibly many) receive sacrilegiously. How many adults would be on board with that?
Excellent analogy. Maybe the dismal state of the culture and the recognition that probably upward of 75 percent of Catholic children are in highly secular public schools will cause the USCCB to advocate the restored order.
I wrote that analogy thinking that it's weak point was that Holy Communion is received weekly, while Confirmation is received once.
Ten minutes later, I repent. The graces from Sacraments like Baptism, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Confirmation are not one-time things, they are constant things. It might actually be worse than withholding Holy Communion for 10 years, since the graces are constant rather than weekly or daily.
We can certainly pray that the USCCB (or even individual bishops) return to the traditional age.