Adults are prepared for the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation through the R.C.I.A. program. They must be baptized Catholics and registered, active parishioners prior to the reception of the sacrament.
Youth at St. John the Baptist celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation after completing 2nd preparation year (usually 7/8th grade). Student candidates for Confirmation are expected to have had consistent attendance in religion classes through religious education programs from elementary school through junior high.
Confirmation is celebrated in the fall of 9th grade. It is a two year preparation program beginning in 7th grade. In addition to the Diocese standard curriculum there is an additional Confirmation preparation curriculum spread out through the two preparations years.
Essentials for Confirmation:
Attendance for Religious Education Classes- 2 consecutive years
Four Confirmation preparation classes (with parent attendance)
Baptismal Record Form & Valid Original Certificate
Saint Name Report
Sponsor's Parish Certification
Sponsor Interview
Letter of Intent to Father Jacek
Service hours (minimum of 10 hours)
Fulfilling these requirements are an important part of determining a students readiness and understanding needed to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. For any missed/incomplete requirements, Confirmation will be at the discretion of the pastor.
Catholic education should not end here. Our faith takes a lifetime to learn and better understand. We nourish it through Mass, bible studies, youth groups, volunteering for ministries, being involved with our parish community and seminars and events.
The Sacrament of Confirmation By: U.S. Conf. of Catholic Bishops
Confirmation, together with Baptism and Eucharist, form the Sacraments of initiation that are all intimately connected. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” and is strengthened for service to the Body of Christ.
The prophets of the Old Testament foretold that God’s Spirit would rest upon the Messiah to sustain his mission. Their prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus the Messiah was conceived by the Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus on the Occasion of his Baptism by John.
Jesus’ entire mission occurred in communion with the Spirit. Before he died, Jesus promised that the Spirit would be given to the Apostles and to the entire Church. After his death, he was raised by the Father in the power of the Spirit.
Those who believed in the Apostles’ preaching were baptized and received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. The Apostles baptized believers in water and the Spirit. Then they imparted the special gift of the Spirit through the laying on of hands. “The imposition of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church” (CCC, no. 1288, citing Pope Paul VI, Divinae Consortium Naturae, no. 659).
By the 2nd century, Confirmation was also conferred by anointing with holy oil, which came to be called sacred Chrism. “The anointing highlights the name “Christian,” which means “anointed’ and derives from that of Christ himself whom God ‘anointed with the Holy Spirit’” (CCC, no. 1289, citing Acts 10:38)