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Come, Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you will renew the face of
the earth.
Amen.
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Accommodations:
We are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive
confirmation preparation. Please speak to Christine regarding any
specific accommodations you or your family may need for the
preparation and celebration of the sacrament. For those candidates
with learning disabilities and who have access to Kurzweil,
the Journal is available for download as a Kesi file at the
Archdiocesan website:
http://www.archtoronto.org/CORE/confirmation_journal.htm.
Look for KESI File near the top of the page. |
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St.
John's Parish Teen
helps make a
CONFIRMATION
program that is
accessible to everyone!
Read story from the
Catholic Register.
CLICK HERE |
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In the Archdiocese of Toronto, candidates for
Confirmation are usually twelve years of age or older. Registration is
held at the church in the late fall and preparation begins in January.
Confirmation takes place during the Easter season as close to Pentecost
as possible.
For adults, wishing to be confirmed, preparation is done separately by
the parish catechist and is arranged in accordance with the specific
needs of the person being confirmed. Confirmation may be celebrated
either at the Easter Vigil or at one of the parish celebrations of
Confirmation. Please contact
Christine if this is your situation. |
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Registration Meeting -
October 2009 |
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Wednesday, October 14 |
7 PM -
8:30 PM |
in the
Church |
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(Make
Up Meeting)
Monday, October 26 |
7:30 PM |
in the
Church |
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What do you need to
bring?
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1. |
At the registration meeting, we will be asking you to
choose a date & time to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation (so
bring your date book!). |
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2. |
We will also need a photocopy of your son or
daughter's baptismal certificate. |
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3. |
There is no "charge" for the sacrament of Confirmation.
Sacraments are free - a gift of Christ and our right as baptised
Christians. However, to provide a preparation programme, costs money and
the parish is currently struggling to make ends meet.
We would
appreciate if you could cover cost of your child's preparation by a
donation to the church at the time of registration. Certainly, if this
is a burden to you, we would appreciate any amount you are able to give.
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Who should
attend? |
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This
meeting is for both Confirmation candidates and their parent(s)/guardian.
Candidates will learn about the meaning of the sacrament what the
preparation process entails. Parents will learn how they can support and
nurture the faith of their sons and daughters during this time as well
as be informed of the details of the programme.
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Can you help? |
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... with Registration
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The length of time necessary for the actual registration
would be greatly accelerated if we had a few extra people to assist with
the sign up. If any of you are able to lend a hand, please call
(898-4137) or
e-mail Christine at the church. Thank you in advance.
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... with Confirmation Preparation |
Also, the Confirmation preparation programme at St. John
Chrysostom depends on the generous commitment of parent volunteers who
facilitate candidates through a series of preparation meetings.
Screening is required and training is provided. This is a rewarding
experience for both candidates and facilitators. This will be explained
in more detail at the registration meeting but we would like you to
consider the possibility of signing up for this opportunity. |
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The
Confirmation Preparation
Programme |
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1. |
The
preparation process we will be using here at St. John's is for all
Confirmation candidates regardless of whether you are in public or
Catholic school.
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2. |
We use
the Archdiocesan Confirmation Programme - Anointed for Mission. It
consists of five meetings in which you will reflect with a group of
about 10-12 other candidates about various aspects of the sacrament
of confirmation and Christian living.
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3. |
As
well, candidates complete a journal and participate in a liturgical
celebration of the Rite of Calling to Confirmation, a retreat and a
celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation. The groups of
candidates are facilitated by volunteers from the parish and are,
for the most part, parents of candidates.
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4. |
The
role of the parents or guardians in the confirmation preparation
process is essential. After each session, the candidates will be
bringing home a "Newsletter." This newsletter will detail the
specific way the family is to cooperate together in the preparation
process as well as provide any communication from the parish. |
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Family Newsletters |
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updated
 Feb.
12, 2010
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Session 1 Newsletter
- Ask and You
Shall Receive: The Gifts of the Spirit
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Session 2 Newsletter -
Seeking God in Prayer
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Session 3 Newsletter - The Call of
Jesus to Mission
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Session 4 Newsletter - Signs of the
Spirit: The Confirmation Liturgy
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Session 5 Newsletter - Servants of
God - Gifted for Mission
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The Confirmation
Schedule |
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Class Schedule and Important Dates
to view: click button
to save: "right click" and choose "save target as"
Feb.
1, 2010
This PDF schedule was revised again on January 27, 2010
Please make sure you use this new schedule
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Details about the Celebration of
Confirmation |
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Photography & Videos:
Liturgy, or worship, is a sacred event in which all of us communicate
with God. Everyone who is present at any liturgical celebration should
be participating fully. Obviously, one cannot participate fully while
concentrating on cameras and video recorders. Therefore, photography is
restricted to after the Confirmation celebration. |
| Clothing: It seems to be a
strong consensus in this parish that both candidates and their families
prefer to have candidates wear red gowns for the confirmation liturgy.
While wearing gowns is not required by the church, the practice can
enhance the liturgy by evoking images of fire (a symbol of the Holy
Spirit), festivity, etc. We will be measuring each candidate later in
the year so that each person's gown will fit properly. |
| Liturgy: As you register you
will sign-up for the mass at which you wish to celebrate your
Confirmation. If you would like to be involved in the celebration (e.g.
reading, carrying a banner, etc.) there will be a chance for you to sign
up during the course of the preparation. |
| Covering Our Costs: There is
no "charge" for the sacrament or the program. However, our programmes
cost money and the parish is currently experiencing some financial
difficulty. We would like if you could support the cost of the programme
through a donation. Please give whatever you are able. Income tax
receipts will be issued for all donations. |
| Sponsors:
Sponsors should be practising, confirmed Catholics and be
at least 16 years old. The sponsor should take an active role in
supporting the faith journey of the candidate. The candidates'
godparents are a particularly good choice for confirmation sponsor since
they can make the symbolic link between the initiation begun at baptism
and that continued at confirmation. Parents do not sponsor their own
children as they already have a significant role in their son or
daughter's spiritual life. It does not matter what gender the sponsor
is. See above for "Sponsor
Handout" and "Resources
for Sponsors"
You can find a Reflection Sheet for helping you to choose a Confirmation
sponsor at:
Espiritu Santo |
| Community Service:
We would like all confirmation candidates to do some form of community
service beginning during the preparation time and enduring throughout
their lives. We emphasize Christian service because "good works" are
absolutely central to the Christian life of faith. As Christians we must
instill in ourselves a deep sense of care and concern for the world
around us. We would encourage parents to provide creative suggestions to
the candidates and to help them reflect on the meaning of their
experiences of service. If you would like to be
involved in service to St. John's Parish Community, there is a volunteer
e-mail list for which you can sign up. Please contact Christine. |
| Confirmation Names:
Candidates are not required to choose a new name for Confirmation. It is
perfectly acceptable for the candidate to use his or her baptismal name.
However, if you would like to choose a patron saint on the occasion of
your confirmation, this is certainly acceptable. Having models of
holiness is very important in a culture in which movie, music and sports
heroes dominate our lives. The Christian saints provide such models.
(See Christine’s
Web Picks for good web sites on the saints)
The choosing of a confirmation name mirrors the
practice of naming in baptism which signifies a new identity in Christ.
Candidates should not choose a name because it "sounds nice," but,
rather, because the person bearing that name in some way signifies a
particular expression of Christian living that appeals to the candidate.
Please note: The name of your saint
is not recorded in our registry. |
| Attendance: Attendance is
mandatory! We expect that all candidates will attend every session,
including the retreat. We understand that sometimes there are serious
reasons which prevent people from attending, Should such a situation
occur, contact the catechist and she will contact your group facilitator
and arrangements will be made for you to attend another group's meeting. |
| Certificates:
Certificates will be distributed in the small groups the week after
confirmation. |
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Some Questions
to Ponder |
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Is Confirmation and End or a Beginning? |
At the end of Grade 8 you will (or did) graduate. Think
for a moment about what this means. You have spent many years attaining
enough knowledge to merit a certificate that says you have earned an
elementary education. You have completed something. You will never go
back to being an elementary school student again. Graduation signals the
end of something. It is the last step of a process.
Confirmation, on the other hand, is something quite
different. It is a sacrament of Initiation and initiation signals the
beginning of something. It is a first step, not the last. As a sacrament
of initiation, confirmation is about the beginnings of a new and deeper
kind of Christian commitment. It is the beginning of your life as an
adult member of the church.
Do you have to know everything about being Catholic to
be confirmed? Not at all. Learning about the meaning of your faith is a
lifetime task. You need only know enough to understand what kind of
commitment you are making. The preparation process here at St. John's is
about helping you to do that as well as to help you prepare spiritually
for that commitment.
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What does this Commitment Mean?
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When you were baptised, your parents made a decision to
raise you as a Catholic Christian person. In confirmation, both you and
the Catholic community confirms this decision. This is your chance to
decide to renew and recommit yourself to the promises that were made on
your behalf at your baptism.
So what are you committing yourself to in the
sacrament of Confirmation? Well, first of all to living a Christian way
of life. This means trying to be loving and kind in all that you do. It
means caring about justice and truthfulness. And most of all it means
having a relationship with Jesus. Central to this relationship is living
a life of prayerfulness - both personal (private prayer) and communal
(Sunday Mass). For Christians this is how we come to know and express
our faith in God. It is also how we find the strength to sustain our
commitment to live just and loving lives.
If you do not feel able to make such a commitment, we encourage you not
to be confirmed at this time. This is not because we want to be
judgmental or "exclusive". Rather, confirmation is about celebrating
one's "full, conscious and active participation" in the Christian
community. It doesn't make sense to celebrate the ritual if we do not
intend to live out the commitment. We would certainly never dream of
signing up for a sports team and buying all of the equipment just so
that we would have the experience of signing up with no intention of
participating in the games. Nor should we celebrate a ritual of
Christian commitment if we don't intend to participate fully. Whenever
in our lives that we feel the call to full inclusion in the church,
whether we are thirteen or ninety, this is when we should be confirmed.
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How Do I Know I Am Ready to be Confirmed?
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We can ask God for the gift of the Holy Spirit at any
time. (Indeed, the Orthodox and Eastern Rite Christians confirm babies
at Baptism.) But it makes most sense, if we are being confirmed later in
our Christian life, to celebrate Confirmation when we know we are going
to live out our Christian commitment as fully as possible.
The following questions will help you to discern if you are ready to
celebrate confirmation.
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Why
do I want to be confirmed?
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If
everyone else in my peer group/class/friends, etc. was choosing not
to be confirmed, would I still chose to be confirmed myself?
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Am I
willing to be a person of love and compassion, serving others in the
way that Jesus did?
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Am I
willing to make an effort to deepen my spiritual life through
private prayer and public worship?
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Is
participation in the Christian community, particularly through my
parish, important to me?
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Do I have to go to Church?
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This seems to be a common question for Confirmation
candidates. The short answer is "yes." When you decide to be confirmed,
you are making a commitment to belong the Eucharistic community in the
fullest possible way. This is what it means to "complete one's
initiation" which is what you are doing in the sacrament of
Confirmation. One doesn't sign up for a team, buy the equipment and then
not attend any games! Nor should one sign up to be confirmed, dress up
and go through the ritual and then not "play the game" of Christianity.
Another way to look at the question is this. Each week in Sunday
Eucharist we are offered the gift of Jesus and given the Grace we need
to live our Christian life during the week. It doesn’t make any sense to
ask God to send us the gifts of the Holy Spirit if we do not even choose
to accept that gift of Christ’s presence given to us weekly in
Eucharist.
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Parish Celebrations of
Confirmation - May 2010 |
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Saturday, May 22
(Victoria Day Weekend) |
5:00 PM |
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Sunday,
May 23
(Victoria Day Weekend) |
8:30 AM
10:00 AM
12:00 PM |
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Saturday, May 29 |
5:00 PM |
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This page and its contents are
copyright © 2010 by St. John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket,
Ontario
All rights reserved.
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