Confirmation
About Our Program
We are very happy that you and your family are a part of our family.
We believe that the Mass is the “source” from which all catechesis flows, and as such, the Mass is central to our program. Our weekend sessions begin 30 minutes prior to the Mass, and conclude at the end of Mass so that the Mass is included in the program.
On Sundays:
When the students arrive, they will meet with the priest for a special Liturgy of the Word which begins promptly at their start time. The students will then go to their classrooms for the weekly lesson while parents meet for some conversation before Mass starts, then will proceed to the Centrum for Mass.
At the end of the Homily, the students will prepare to enter into the Centrum to join their parents for Liturgy of the Eucharist. The children enter during the offertory, and are asked to do so quietly and reverently as this is the “summit” or most important part of the Mass. As such, we ask that you refrain from asking them too many questions at this time, but encourage you to have those conversations after Mass at home or over your family’s meal.
Pre-school and kindergarten students will sit at the front with their class until the Sign of Peace, at which time the students go back into the classrooms to finish their lesson. Parents will pick up the pre school and kindergarten students after Mass.
Since it is a part of the whole program, if you need to leave before Mass ends, you will have to sign your child out in the attendance office. You may do this at the beginning of the session. Please remember, your child’s session does not end until Mass is over.
On Monday Evenings:
We also start the RE program with Children's Liturgy of the Word, using the Sunday gospel from the day before and break open the word with the students.
Our sessions meet from September through May at the following time:
- Sunday - 7:45AM, 9:30AM and 11:30AM
- Monday- 5:00-6:00PM and 7:00-8:00 PM
We do offer a Family Faith Session that serves as a Home School option. Families gather once a month; parents or guardians attend this session with their children.
We also have a Special Needs program called CHRISTOS that meets bi weekly.
For more information, call the Religious Education Office at 630-963-3053.
We hope that being a part of our program enhances your family’s faith journey!
Come Holy Sprit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. send for your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the Earth.
Amen.
What is the Sacrament of Confirmation?
At confirmation we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and confirm our baptismal promises. Greater awareness of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conferred through the anointing of chrism oil and the laying on of hands by the Bishop.
Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds. (CCC 1316)
Through the Sacrament of Confirmation we renew our baptismal promises and commit to living a life of maturity in the Christian faith. As we read in the Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church) from the Second Vatican Council:
Bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation, [the baptized] are endowed by the Holy Spirit with special strength; hence they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith both by word and by deed as true witnesses of Christ. (no. 11)
Scriptural Foundation for Confirmation
In the Acts of the Apostles we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. While baptism is the sacrament of new life, confirmation gives birth to that life. Baptism initiates us into the Church and names us as children of God, whereas confirmation calls us forth as God’s children and unites us more fully to the active messianic mission of Christ in the world.
After receiving the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles went out and confirmed others, showing confirmation to be an individual and separate sacrament: Peter and John at Samaria (Acts 8:5-6, 14-17) and Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:5-6). Also the Holy Spirit came down on Jews and Gentiles alike in Caesarea, prior to their baptisms. Recognizing this as a confirmation by the Holy Spirit, Peter commanded that they be baptized (cf. Acts 10:47).