Confirmation Information Evening for Parents & Confirmandi Monday 18 th November 2019 St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
Aims: To understand the Sacrament of Confirmation and the journey of preparation to receive the Sacrament St Bedes Catholic Middle School (Academy) St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
Opening Prayer: We gather today as a community of faith in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We welcome especially the young people who are preparing for Confirmation and those members of their families who will support them on that journey. As members of this faith community, we too, will support and pray for them as they prepare to celebrate this sacrament. We ask God’s blessing on all who are gathered here and pray that our time of preparation for Confirmation may be filled with grace. We begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit as we meet together this evening: St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
The Importance of Confirmation -1 • Full members of the Church Confirmation is one of the seven Sacraments of the Church. • It is the third of the three Sacraments of Initiation into Eucharist the Church which are necessary for people to become full members of the Church. The other two Sacraments of initiation are the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
The Importance of Confirmation - 2 Full members of the Church • Confirmation completes what Baptism begins. • The Sacrament of Confirmation is NOT a rite of Eucharist passage. It IS an essential step to be completed. • At the child’s Baptism, the Catholic parent(s) agreed to present their child forward for Reconciliation, the Eucharist AND Confirmation when the time came. St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
What is the Sacrament of Confirmation? 1285 Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the “sacraments of Christian initiation,” whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For “by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.” Taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
Receiving the Sacrament This Academic Year, the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation will be available to Pupils in Year 7 and any Pupils in Year 8 who for whatever reason were unable to make their Confirmation last year. St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
Special Holy Gifts and Fruits. • Through Confirmation the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit are received: wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge and piety and fear of the Lord. These gifts can help a person to live as a follower of Christ. • Through receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit it is hoped that the Candidate will through their thoughts, words and actions bear the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Longsuffering, Mildness, Faith, Modesty, Self-Control, Chastity. • It is a means by which the Candidate publically professes their faith and shows their commitment to becoming a full member of the Church. St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
In the beginning…….. IDEAL SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION MODEL The three-legged PARISH COMMUNITY LOCAL CATHOLIC stool of the three CHURCH/ ACTIVE AND WORSHIPPING Key elements needed for a successful Confirmation Sacramental Programme. These are; • Family • Parish • Catholic School St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
From the Catechism: 2685 . “The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the ‘domestic church’ where God’s children learn to pray ‘as the Church’, and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the church’s living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.” Taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
First steps on the journey….. Some questions to ask yourself before we go any further……… Confirmandi: • As a young person to be Confirmed, what can I do to show my commitment? • What promises will I make on my Enrolment? • What gifts of the Holy Spirit would I most like to receive? Why? • What fruits of the Holy Spirit would I most like to receive? Why? • What special Saint’s name have I chosen? Why? • How may your Family/Parish/School help you further? Parents and Sponsors: • As a parent/family how will I help my child? • As a Sponsor how will I support the candidate? St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
The Journey….What happens now? You decide with your family! Confirmation Enrolment Form to be completed – return to your own Parish by deadline of 10 th January 2020 . Hand in to the Presbytery at OLMC or St Peter’s or hand in with your letter of application on Friday 10 th January 2020 in School at the special Confirmation Preparation Mass at 2.15pm in STB School Hall. Copies are online of the Enrolment Form. Each Candidate is also asked to write a letter of application to the Parish Priest briefly saying why he or she now feels ready to prepare for Confirmation and how they intend to live out their faith commitment. This is to be handed in with your Enrolment Form. A template is available on the school Website and on the Parish Websites. Hand in with the Form! Sacramental Programme dates. (These will be available on our school website and the Parish Website after this meeting and they will be available again at the end of this meeting.) Confirmation Enrolment Ceremony – Certificate of Commitment to be presented and Enrolment onto the Programme made- There will be special Masses: OLMC: January 11 th 2020 (Sat 5pm); January 12th th 2020 (Sunday 11.15am); St Peter’s Bromsgrove: January 12 th 2020(Sunday 10.30am) • Attendance at the scheduled Sacramental Programme Preparation sessions after school x7 sessions in total. These will begin on Monday 20 th January 2020. • St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
The Journey….What happens now?... Continued. • My Confirmation Sponsor – A practising Catholic over age 18 and who has been Confirmed themselves – • Why a Special Name? - Catherine, Anthony, etcetera. A special Saints project will be expected to be completed by the end of the formal Sacramental Programme. This deadline is 18 th May 2020. With this, you will be expected to create a project about the Patron Saint you have chosen. Your Saint should be someone whose life and faith have inspired you and who you feel will be the best model and guide for your life beyond your reception of the Sacrament. Please ask your Patron Saint to pray for you and help you as you begin a new step in your life of faith. • A Retreat is being planned at Harvington Hall for all St Bede’s Pupils ONLY, in June 2020. Attendance is voluntary but it will form a vital part in the latter stages of the Sacramental Preparation so STB pupils are encouraged to attend and take part in this special day. • Ongoing – daily prayer, attendance at weekly Mass, providing service to others, going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Service and outreach to those less fortunate in our Parishes and communities. Why not help with the work of the SVP or Children’s Liturgy? Perhaps join the Mini Vinnies? St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
CHAPTER IV. SPONSORS Can. 872 Insofar as possible, a person to be baptised is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it. Can. 873 There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each. Can. 874 §1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must: 1/ be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function; 2/ have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause; 3/ be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on; 4/ not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared; 5/ not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized. §2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism. Source: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/71.HTM St Bede’s Catholic Middle School (Academy)
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