What is the Point of Confirmation?

Many may ask why we do confirmation. What's the point? If I had to choose one thing in a teenager's life that I thought was important for the church to do, it would be confirmation. It's so important that I would go as far as to say students should take the classes both in Middle School and High School.

I would love it if I could get adults to go through confirmation. This is one place our Catholic brothers and sisters have things sorted. Confirmation is vital for teaching young people what it means to be Christian. I believe this is even more important today than ever in our fast-changing world.

Our children are faced with so many things that we weren't faced with in school. We educated them properly, accepting people who are different from them. Many of them now struggle to draw lines between Christianity and other world views. This is where confirmation comes in.

I'm excited to teach The Absolute Basics of the Christian Faith again. One of the things I love about this book is that it breaks down our beliefs into small chunks so that you can easily talk about them. At the same time, it's deep enough that an adult who wants to go deeper can too.

Starting in November, the students and I will unpack the following topics, ending in April:

• God
• Creation
• Jesus
• Salvation
• The Holy Spirit
• The Church
• The Last Things or The End

If you know of a 7th-12th grade student who does not have a place to grow spiritually, please encourage him or her to join us as we empower our young people to use their minds and hearts. You can find all the information about confirmation on the website.

I'm praying for the students God will bring for this exciting journey. At the end of April, after Easter, the students will have an opportunity to declare their faith publicly, be baptized, and join the church. I'd ask that you join me in prayer as we do this vital work of the Church.