Confirmation
It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15);
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:
Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.
Approach to Confirmation and First Eucharist
Our basic task as Catholics is to spread the News of Salvation. Before we can do that we must have a relationship with Jesus. That means prayer and focusing everything we do on what he said and did and why.One excellent way to do that is to develop the “Family Nuclear Church”. This is the basic foundation of our faith; parents and children, at home, learning to pray together, learning about their faith, going to mass, participating in the seasons of the Church, events and celebrations of Holy Cross and doing activities that help them grow in their love of Jesus.
Parents will learn more of the faith at an adult level; the children will then have faith elements presented to them at their level (grade 2 average). Parents will have their own classes and then join their children for their sessions.
Reconciliation, Confirmation & First Eucharist Schedule of Meetings
Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist are now part of the Revised Order of the sacraments. This is now offered to children in Grade two and up, starting at about the age of 7. Do not worry about an optimum age or grade level. The question to ask yourself as a parent is, is your child ready and capable of understanding what they are being given?
The child should be of the age of reason. Are you, as a parent, willing to walk with them on this journey of faith and continue to support them on their journey from here on in? Reconciliation is the meeting of Jesus to accept his ever present and on-going mercy for any mistakes we make and is required before children take Confirmation classes.
Confirmation is the start of their accepting the responsibility of being “doers” in the Catholic faith; they are welcomed to the Table of the Lord, giving them the strength and graces of Jesus to be within them, to do what they have been called to do.
Carefully look the schedule over. We are now requiring parents to take a couple of classes separately to help them build their own faith to help their children (please see the document on the revised approach to sacraments at Holy Cross). Choose the schedule that works for you, ( we have a two year calendar) then print, fill in and return the registration with the fee of $30.00 to the office as soon as you can.
If your child has not been baptized at Holy Cross you will be required to obtain a copy of their baptismal certificate from the church where they were baptized before completion of the classes.
Parent classes run about two hours starting at 6:30 pm and classes are intended for both parents to attend without their children. If babysitting is required, we will have available, upon request, a St. John’s trained babysitter (or sitters, depending on numbers) to look after any babies and toddlers. These teenagers would be happy to accept what you are willing to give them for their time. We don’t want parents being distracted or splitting their resources for these classes.
Reconciliation Classes are taken with parents and the child receiving this sacrament alone.
For Confirmation and First Eucharist, we encourage all family members to participate, not just the children seeking this sacrament. This means the entire family can come and be together (no babysitting required for older or younger children.) This will help strengthen our Family Church culture, remove the need for babysitting (unless you have infants or toddlers that require looking after – we will make arrangements). The classes would start at 6:30 pm and will run up to 1.5 hours. That way the evening ends earlier.
We invite you to invite the sponsor(s) or the child to attend classes as well.
After the parent classes, there will be an enrollment rite, usually on a Sunday before we start the family classes, usually during the 9:30 am mass. This is an opportunity to present your child(ren) to the parish, so they can pray for you and be aware of the spiritual journey you are taking as a family.
Finally, if you are not registered members of Holy Cross, we ask that you register with us as such. I have attached a church registration form for this purpose. If you ae registered, kindly ignore the form.
For children from Grade 2 and up
The confirmation mass will be determined based on the Bishop's schedule. Confirmations in the Archdiocese of Regina start after Easter and can go to June.
Reconciliation Registration Form
Confirmation and First Eucharist Registration Form
Holy Cross Registration form
If you would like to register, print of the correct form below, fill it in and then bring to the parish with the fee of $30.
For more information please contact Martin at pastoral.asistant@holycrossregina.ca or call me at (306) 347-0929.