For the past 27 years, since 1979, the practice of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been that our young people approach the sacrament of confirmation around the age of 16 or 17, usually in junior year of high school.
This change was early in Archbishop Weakland's administration. Was there something specific that change was supposed to accomplish? Are there objective measures showing whether it has or hasn't? Neither the letter nor the Catholic Herald report (see previous post) say.
The letter began in the plural, but mid-way Bishop Sklba disappears.
A little over a year ago, I (Archbishop Dolan) received a very thoughtful letter, signed by hundreds of our faithful, asking me to consider changing our praxis here in the archdiocese, to have our young people receive the sacrament in junior high school. I certainly wanted to take their request seriously, so I asked our Archdiocesan Pastoral Council -- that consultative body consisting of an elected lay representative from each of the 16 districts of the archdiocese, plus a delegate from the priests, deacons, and religious women and men -- to undertake a careful review of the question.
While the members of the APC might be elected, the parish councils which elect them often are not. So it is (presumably unintentionally) misleading to talk of the APC as an elected representative body.
They consulted with theologians, parents, catechists, and young people themselves, and hosted two town-meeting-style listening sessions in a sincere desire to assess the pros and cons of the different ages.
The Catholic Herald report did not so describe the first session. Unless procedure has changed, Archdiocesan listening sessions are not conducted "town-meeting-style". Unlike a town meeting, listening sessions are structured to filter out minority views, much like the use of discernment and consensus do in our parish councils. And so it was no surprise that
...at the regular meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, they unanimously recommended that the practice of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee continue as it is, and that our young people receive the sacrament at 16 or 17.
While we, your bishops, personally fully support the custom of the archdiocese to confirm our young people at 16 or 17, we admit it is not the answer to everything, and that there are problems with it.
Which they, or he, go(es) on to describe. But it's because there were problems that hundreds of parents wrote to Archbishop Dolan, who they knew was inclined to the earlier age. Neither the letter nor the Catholic Herald report say anything about follow-up to address problems. Why should there be when the DREs just got what looks like a unanimous vote of confidence in the status quo?
What about the inevitable issues with lowering the age of Confirmation? No age will be without problems.
ReplyDeleteI'll assume that there will be advantages and disadvantages to any of the ages for Confirmation. That, though, is no more an argument for now keeping the age set in 1979 than it was for changing the age in 1979.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the percentage of young Catholics confirmed is down since the age was raised. In response, concerned parents asked that the age be lowered. If the bishops or DREs have an alternative proposal to address this, it wasn't reported in the Catholic Herald.
That may be true, but no you want over-inflated numbers because parents are forcing their younger children to be there? At least with the age in high school you stand a (somewhat) better chance of young adults receiving the sacrament who actually want it.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies - last post should read "do you want".
ReplyDeleteThe effect of the age change appears to be just the opposite of what you're asserting.
ReplyDeleteThe Bishops' letter says "...[Confirmation] should not be presented as an occasion to choose or reject Christ and his Church."
From the numbers, it looks like the later age change does just that.
Let's not forget the example of the Sacrament of Penance, where it apparently is believed improved quality has more than made up for participation dropping to, approximately, zero.