Confirmation Age?

[princessgianna]

[quote name='loveletslive' post='1884364' date='Jun 5 2009, 04:29 PM']... there are too many lists of things in the Catholic church and i could have cared less in sunday school.[/quote]
But you need to know your stuff.

[quote name='MissyP89' post='1884370' date='Jun 5 2009, 04:33 PM']....

I think a lot of it has to do with the parents not setting a good example, honestly. If Mom and Dad don't live it out, and treat it as just something to do because "everyone does it," why should I care?[/quote]
Agreed.

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1884501' date='Jun 5 2009, 07:45 PM']The mystery of Chrismation must not be confused with a "rite of passage" into adulthood.

In the Eastern Christian tradition babies are chrismated (confirmed) during the same ceremony in which they are baptized.[/quote]

That's very interesting but I belong to the Roman Catholic Church and right now I am mostly concerned with how it works.

Though you bring up a good point. I was taught that confirmation was when I decided to be an "adult" in the faith. I see I was taught wrong.

[quote name='Quantum_Entity' post='1884515' date='Jun 5 2009, 08:08 PM']I really don't think confirmation is something that should be determined by age. That's a cut and dry approach for a very deep and serious spiritual matter.

I wasn't confirmed until 21, I think. But then, I did leave the church for almost 10 years, too. So, that kind of threw things off. I remember being in my confirmation classes and seeing how immature many of the kids were.

That was one of the final things that drove me away from the church and into atheism/agnosticism (not sure what I was) even at that age. I just couldn't believe that these kids were being allowed to take on such a great spiritual responsibility when they were still acting up, yelling, swearing, and acting like...um...I can't think of a nice word...jerks?

I also couldn't believe that these kids were going to represent the Church. That didn't bode well with me. And then there are those that get confirmed and still act like jerks and don't take their faith seriously. If you don't take your faith seriously or even believe in your religion, then don't get confirmed. Ugh...it's complicated.

I think the age of confirmation should be somewhere between 16 and 60. It would be nice if there was some sort of a test or an interview that those who were going to be confirmed had to take. It isn't a light matter.[/quote]
Well in the thread it is becoming quite clear that what my parents were taught and what I was taught was not quite on the ball. It really infuriates me.

[VeniteAdoremus]

There's an old joke about two priests who each have bats in the clock tower. When one comes to visit the other, the other's bats have gone! The first priest had been trying for ages, so he asks the second how he managed it. "Oh," said the priest, "it was very easy in the end, I just baptised and confirmed them and never saw them again!"

Personally I don't think it's a bit too true to be funny...

Good catechism is key to most, if not all, problems in the Church, in my opinion. I think we all agree that all Catholics should be well-catechised (and also that this is not happening at the moment).

The question which remains then is how the level of catechisation ties to the reception of the Sacraments. So, to what degree should a child be catechised in order to receive them? Currently, Confirmation is used (at least here in the Netherlands) simply to get kids of a certain age into a weekly class. They wouldn't come if it wasn't for a identifiable goal (they're Dutch, we work that way ). There doesn't have to be anything wrong with that, but it does put pressure on the preparation programme, because chances are they won't get any more instruction after that. In this case, I think age matters. Not because of a readiness for the Sacrament, but purely for opportunistic reasons. If they're still at "and now we'll do this nice Pentecost colouring plate"-level, they'll never be fully catechised.

If the child is in a structure where there would be catechisation no matter what their age (attending a solid Catholic school, being raised with the Faith by parents who know their stuff) the age matters less. But because confirmation (in the Latin rite ) is traditionally done after First Communion I wouldn't miss the opportunity to do it at an age where children have started to make big decisions on their own.

One of my future sisters had a girl in last year's confirmation class who had decided the year before to wait because she did not feel ready. I thought that was pretty cool. And the class decided together they wanted to go on with catechises after confirmation. So it's very much possible to get it right.