Chai Brady
The pause caused by coronavirus restrictions might be a moment to look again at how we celebrate important rites of passage in the Faith, writes Chai Brady
The Government advice that Confirmation and First Holy Communion ceremonies should not be part of the plans when parishes re-open for public worship of May 10 creates quite the dilemma. If Confirmation ceremonies are postponed until the autumn, young people in the Republic will go to secondary school without the Sacrament.
Quite apart from legitimate concerns expressed about this State over-reach in the life of the Church by trying to insist which sacraments ought to be celebrated and which ought not, it might be a moment that parishes could seize for a reset.
Sacraments
At least for some, there are also hopes that the pandemic, with all the changes it has brought, might be the spark that will ignite change in how children prepare for the sacraments.
Speaking about the effects of a delay to Confirmation, Dr John Murray a theologian at Dublin City University (DCU) told The Irish Catholic: “It may have to be done at secondary school level but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s no harm to think a bit about the Sacrament, the Sacrament of Confirmation and when it’s given and the good side to that and the bad side.
“If we were to think that giving the Sacrament because there’s less of a likelihood a year later that the kids might commit to getting it, that would be a poor argument because it suggests that you’re trying to get them young before they think about it,” he said.
“It’s part of the challenge facing the Church generally – I mean quite apart from Covid, although Covid does complicate things and make things difficult – how good is the catechesis and the evangelisation the Church carries out in education and in parish? Does it help parents and individuals, children and adults to understand the Faith and commit to it? That’s an ongoing challenge and I think this national synod that’s being organised, it’s going to have to look at that as a big issue for us.”
Dr Murray asks how the Church can attract young people to make the commitment freely and enthusiastically to the Faith, especially as it will become “harder and harder” and more “unpopular” in the future.
We often pay far more attention to the lawfulness and validity of the sacraments than the fruitfulness”
“So we may need to rethink the idea that everybody receives Communion and Confirmation just as a matter of course, that’s worth questioning and thinking about and it may be that the Covid situation offers – even though it’s bad and I don’t like what’s happened – a chance for the people in the Church to think about the way things have been done before and whether that should continue or whether there are new ways, better ways, of doing things into the future,” he said.
Prof. Eamonn Conway of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick said the pandemic can be an opportunity to “rediscover the sacraments as central moments of initiation, to rediscover key faith moments”.
He said there has been too much of a focus on the sacraments being celebrated in a legal way and safe way, saying “the third element is often missing, which is that they be celebrated fruitfully. That is to say, that the grace takes effect”.
“We often pay far more attention to the lawfulness and validity of the sacraments than the fruitfulness,” Prof. Conway continues, “It’s an opportunity to take stock of the reality of the core elements, which are the handing on of faith and the fruitfulness of practice.”
It is a “huge disappointment” that confirmation won’t go ahead, said Dr Jessie Rogers of St Patrick’s College in Maynooth but for those who really want to receive the Sacrament when restrictions are lifted, they won’t struggle she insists.
Confirmation
“For anybody who recognises the importance of Confirmation, you’ll work around it, you find a way going forward when restrictions do ease that you’ll be able to celebrate Confirmation,” she said.
“It’s not a zero sum. Even the assumption that if students don’t get confirmed at that exact time in their school curriculum does make you wonder sacramentally how Confirmation is understood.
“If it’s a case of ‘you can’t do it now, so you’ll never do it’, you do have to wonder whether Confirmation is not being understood purely as a rite of passage.”
Asked about the logistics of gathering children who have left primary school to go to different secondary schools for Confirmation, Dr Rogers said if parishes take confirmations seriously, “then there are other ways that the parish can ensure that it still happens and as much as possible it can happen with the same group”.
“Perhaps what’s being highlighted here is that parishes have handed over to the school too much. It’s meant to be a working together of the school and parish. But if we say once the children have left that point in their school career, it will never happen – I think that shines a not too great light on the parish.”
Dr Rogers added that she doesn’t think the Government should make decisions regarding which sacraments Catholics can receive. With 50 people allowed to gather for public Mass, wedding services and funerals from May 10, Communion and Confirmation were singled out and disallowed due to “what happens after” according to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Common good
“I think the Government’s remit can only be to say how many people can gather, these are the kinds of measures that need to be put in place. I wouldn’t say that the Government should be saying you can do this one and not that one. The Government does have a right to be making decisions in the common good,” she said.
“Absolutely you can say that there should not be more than ‘x’ amount of people at a gathering, but I don’t think you can single out a particular kind of celebration. You can say you can’t have ‘x’ number of people in a house or ‘x’ number of people gathering outside, but I don’t think it’s fair to single out something specific.”
It’s looking more likely that Communion and Confirmation will be celebrated in the Autumn across Ireland but in the meantime the Faithful are being asked to look past cultural norms and into the heart of what the sacraments mean.
Additional reporting by Ruadhán Jones and Jason Osborne