CELEBRATING THE SACRAMENT OF Confirmation: An Essential Step in a Young Catholic’s Faith Journey

“Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” — the celebrant speaks these words at Confirmation while signing the confirmand’s head with chrism, an oil also used at Baptism. This is one of three Sacraments of Initiation. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist “lay the foundations of every Christian life.”

Rita Hemmer, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry leads the Confirmation program at St. Leo’s. The 10th and 11th-grade classes are combined for the sacrament, so the next preparation class will be held in the 2024-2025 school year for sophomores and juniors. Confirmation is traditionally held in August.

“During the Confirmation preparation program, a faith community develops,” Rita says. “Combining the classes helps this development and enhances our intensive large and small-group activities.”

When young adults commit to the Confirmation preparation program, they become candidates for Confirmation.

“We have preparation sessions that the candidates attend, and it is more than just learning,” Rita says. “It is about experiencing and growing in faith.”

The preparation sessions are held on specific Sunday evenings from September to April, with a break for December and the summer. They gather for a Confirmation retreat in early August.

Candidates choose a saint and a sponsor. The sponsor serves as a mentor and should be a Catholic adult that the candidate knows well and is comfortable talking with. This person presents the candidate to the bishop or celebrant at Confirmation.

“The sponsor should be a person that actively and morally lives their faith,” Rita says.

As Rita emphasizes, Confirmation is an essential step in a candidate’s faith journey. It shouldn’t be something they do “because they have to.” She points to a passage from the Rite of Confirmation that outlines this important faith step: “The initiation in the Christian life is completed so that believers are strengthened by the power from heaven, made true witnesses of Christ in word and deed, and bound more closely to the church.”

Preparing for Confirmation is like being on junior varsity in the faith, she says.

“At the Sacrament of Confirmation, you receive the grace to move up to the ‘varsity team,’” Rita says. “The benefits are too many to mention here. That is why we prepare for this part of your faith journey.”

Rita enjoys walking with the candidates as they prepare to receive this important sacrament.

“I enjoy it because we can have deeper faith conversations and explore deeper concepts of our faith,” she says.

Adult leaders are needed to walk with the candidates through this process.

For more information on Confirmation or serving as a leader, contact Rita Hemmer, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry at rita@saintleos.org.

The 2022 Confirmation class celebrates reception of the sacrament. The next preparation class will be held in the 2024-2025 school year for sophomores and juniors. Confirmation is traditionally held in August.