This past week we completed our family faith formation
sessions for the year, and this weekend our LIFT first communicants will
receive the Blessed Sacrament for the first time. The past year has flown by,
and I suspect the summer planning season will pass even faster. We have lots of
great for next year, but one of more significant changes has to do with the age
of Confirmation. After extensive discussion in recent years, including our
priests, committee members, catechists, and staff members at St. Michael and
St. Albert parishes, we have decided to gradually shift the age of Confirmation
to 8th grade for all our students.
This decision was made for several reasons, but for me, the
two most compelling are these:
- Middle-schoolers
are more open to evangelization and catechesis. They are more likely to
follow the lead of their parents and parish volunteers, more excited about
activities and retreats, and significantly less busy. High-schoolers have other
priorities, including sports, exams, driver’s ed, jobs, and social lives—and
unless their faith is already a top personal priority, it is difficult to make
them care.
- We
already have great success in reaching and converting middle-schoolers. We
have tremendous youth ministry programs that change kids’ lives (as almost
anyone who has sent their kids to Extreme Faith Camp can attest). We don’t
capture the heart of every middle-schooler, but of the high-schoolers we have
who stay committed to their faith through graduation and beyond, nearly all of
them were hooked in middle school. Each year we have a large “bubble” of
students who show up for Confirmation classes—why not move the bubble to the
age at which we have proven success in reaching kids and helping to keep them
Catholic
What does this mean for you? If your children attend the
parish school, they will continue to be confirmed in 8th grade. If
your children attend LIFT and our parish Confirmation program, the plan looks
like this:
- Next
year: Tenth-grade students will see no change; they will complete the second
year of the Chosen program and be confirmed in Spring 2017 as planned.
Ninth-grade students will complete a more intensive, one-year Chosen program
and will also be confirmed in Spring 2017.
- 2017-18:
Ninth-grade students will complete a more intensive, one-year Chosen program
and will be confirmed in Spring 2018. Eighth-grade students will complete
either a one-year program (either based on Chosen or the YDisciple model) and
will also be confirmed in Spring 2018.
- 2018-19:
Eighth-grade students will complete a one-year program using the YDisciple
model from this point forward.
The YDisciple model involves forming small groups of around
eight students each, beginning in middle school, with a trained adult leader
who walks with those students from middle-school until they graduate. In each
discipleship group (or D-group), students continue to learn about their
Catholic faith, grow in prayer and discipleship, support each other, and hold
each other accountable.
This is a volunteer-intensive effort. We will need people
who feel called to work with teens and share their faith, who are willing to be
trained and to commit to a group of young people, and who are able to share
their own lives as examples of faithful discipleship. It is a daunting task to
find and train so many volunteers, but we believe this is where God is calling
us, and He will make our efforts fruitful.
In fact, our need for dedicated disciples who are ready to
work in the vineyard is not limited to Confirmation. We have such great needs
in this parish, and so few workers. It is time for those of us who have been
asleep to rise and walk, with our spouses and children, our friends and
neighbors, and all those in our lives who need Christ—in short, with everyone!
Labels: column, Confirmation, discipleship, Eucharist, evangelization, sacraments, salvation, work