Confirmation Thoughts

1) Tomorrow I am serving at the Confirmation Mass with the bishop. The parish lady called and said they need communion ministers. I said okay. I don't know any of the youth being confirmed, but that's okay. I'm happy to help out with such an important sacrament.

2) I was a teen-ager when I made my Confirmation. In my area that was normal. I think it's a good idea to be close to adulthood when making an adult decision. I believe it is a commitment to . . . uh . . . strive to be a good Catholic. Help, I need a review here. I felt like I was being commissioned to do something. We also got a light slap on the cheek to represent the hardships and battles we may face as we carry out our Catholic faith. This is not an educational post, as you can tell if you're still reading this paragraph.

3) I thought my Confirmation Mass was warm and fuzzy. It's a good memory. It felt special because it was special. I didn't like the felt stole I had to make though.

4) Our parish recently gave the option of having children confirmed in 8th grade instead of 10th grade. So many people drop out of religion class after being confirmed. Whereas, I had to take two additional years of religious ed and go to Confirmation classes. I think they changed it to make it more convenient for the parents.

5) Once I taught Confirmation classes. It was a watery curriculum, and my memories are rather vague. I do remember feeling like I was fulfilling my Confirmation promise.

6) One reason we were told to get confirmed was because we'll need it to get married in the church someday. It's kind of like saying you need 50 hours of behind-the-wheel lessons before getting your driver's license.

6a) This was when I was young and hopeful and just assumed life was going to work out the way I expected and I would get married and have children.

7) When I went away to college, I hardly went to Mass. Then it was parents' weekend, so of course I had to go to Mass since my parents were with me. What a surprise to go to the Newman Center and see my friends there with their parents. We didn't realize that we were all Catholic.

8) The priest at the Newman Center was a little "out there." My college friends and I were all a shocked at how unpriestly he was. I don't think he did anything wrong. He was a bit more "modern" then we expected. My home parish was little hippy-ish, but not like the Newman Center priest.

9) I have no idea if Father Newman Center was a good priest or not because I was not really paying that much attention and didn't know if he was off-track or not. Let's just assume he was a good priest doing good priestly work. It's not like I hung around the Newman Center to find out.