Random Catholic News

Pro-Life Students Take Part in Silent Abortion Protest, One Suspended

"Separation of Church and State" is for sissies - at least in the "no one can make statements that will possibly offend anyone" category. The part that fires me up the most is that his parents supported him in wearing the shirt again even though they knew he would get suspended.

In Tyler, confirmation restored to its place before first Communion

"It's tied very closely to our baptismal promises, and tied very closely to the Eucharist. Confirmation strengthens the gifts that we celebrate receiving at baptism, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and helps us prepare for entering into the celebration of the Eucharist," she said.
According to Bishop Corrada's pastoral letter, the early Christians "entered the communion of the church through baptism and the laying on of hands." These sacraments "introduced Christians into the life of the community and prepared them to celebrate the eucharistic sacrifice."

I agree with this move of Confirmation to its original place. The Eucharistic aspect was something that I had never thought of.
This part really made it clear for me:

The age for first Communion was lowered, but confirmation remained at age 12.
"They left it up there by itself, and what happened was that publishers came out gearing (catechetical material) toward older children and we adapted to the practice," Porter said. "Then we tried to define our theology based on that practice, rather than the other way around."
As a result, challenges have developed. The most prominent is a "checklist" mentality, in which confirmation is the final act on a list of sacraments that a child must receive before completing a catechetical program.

"The sacraments are separated," Porter said. "We start with this sacrament, baptism, and sometimes we don't see the families again until a child prepares to make his first Communion. Then you might not see them again until they come for confirmation.

"And once they're confirmed, you don't see them at all because you've got them already in the mindset that ... these are kind of 'sacramental stations' where you come and get filled up, then you're finished after confirmation," she added.

"Confirmation cannot be properly looked at as a single event, done and then forgotten, like some type of immunization or graduation," Bishop Corrada said.

Finally, this is very cool: Catholic parish brings outreach to local bars.