Our parish pastoral leadership team issues a CALL TO CONFIRMATION for all those in our parish family who have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

I have been struck, in the course of my ministry during pastoral formation, by the number of Catholics who never completed their Christian initiation with the Sacrament of Confirmation. Often, we discover this when someone comes seeking to be a Godparent for someone else’s Baptism or Confirmation and they realize that Confirmation is a requirement of being a Godparent. We also discover this when they approach to begin preparing for Holy Matrimony. (Although Holy Mother Church doesn’t require Confirmation for Marriage, she encourages it.)

Confirmation is important because it brings to completion what the Holy Spirit began in our Baptism. In Baptism, we enter God’s family and are saved from original sin, dying and rising anew with Christ. In Confirmation, we gain the armor of the Gifts of the Spirit and are fully set with the grace for our mission as priest, prophet, and king in our sphere of influence in the Church and world. When I run into a fellow Catholic who has not received the grace of the Sacrament of Confirmation, my heart is drawn to helping them encounter that grace as soon as possible.

This year due to COVID, Bishop Paprocki has delegated to pastors the faculty to celebrate Confirmation within the parish through June 30. After this year, as we fully move into our approach to the restored order of the Sacraments, Confirmation will start to be handled slightly differently with our 3rd grade classes. We want to do everything we can to find, form, and Confirm all who need the Sacrament of Confirmation before mid-summer.

To assist with this, I am planning a few instances of a 2-session class for Confirmation preparation. If you or ANY Catholic you know in our parish is over 3rd grade and has not yet received Confirmation, PLEASE contact me as soon as possible, and we’ll start to work through the dates. I will do all I can to offer the necessary instruction as many times as possible to prepare all those wishing to receive the Sacrament in a special Mass for Confirmation in our parish this June.

PLEASE spread the word of our CALL TO CONFIRMATION, and let me know who to add to our list: FaithFormation@stelizabethgc.org or 618-877-3300 x1005.

Yours in Prayer & Service,
Deacon Candidate Michael Halbrook