Peter Balbirnie
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Dear Catholic Exchange:
A friend who goes to the Episcopal Church says that Catholic Bishops don't do the Sacrament of Confirmation when they should. In my parish, the priest does the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation on the Easter Vigil but the Bishop did come to our parish less than two weeks later to lay hands on the newly confirmed, although I did not see the other catechumens at the Easter Vigil present there. I know that before Easter, those who were going to be baptized and confirmed on the Easter Vigil would meet with the Bishop. Is my friend true that we are not doing the right procedure of Baptism and Confirmation?
Thank you and God bless,
Pajie
Dear Pajie,
Peace in Christ!
It is not clear from your letter what your friend perceives to be wrong with the way the Catholic bishops are administering the Sacrament of Confirmation although it seems that it may have to do with the proper minister and/or the timing. Below is some selected information regarding the Church’s norms for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Regarding the minister, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that the original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. In the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also immediately confers Confirmation in one and the same celebration. But he does so with sacred chrism consecrated by the patriarch or bishop, thus expressing the apostolic unity of the Church whose bonds are strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation. In the Latin Church, the same discipline applies to the Baptism of adults or to the reception into full communion with the Church of a person baptized in another Christian community that does not have valid Confirmation (no. 1312).
In the Latin Rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop. If the need arises, the bishop may grant the faculty of administering Confirmation to priests, although it is fitting that he confer it himself, mindful that the celebration of Confirmation has been temporally separated from Baptism for this reason. Bishops are the successors of the Apostles. They have received the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The administration of this sacrament by them demonstrates clearly that its effect is to unite those who receive it more closely to the Church, to her apostolic origins, and to her mission of bearing witness to Christ (no. 1313).
Today in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry into the catechumenate and reaches its culmination in a single celebration of the three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. In the Eastern rites the Christian initiation of infants also begins with Baptism followed immediately by Confirmation and the Eucharist, while in the Roman rite it is followed by years of catechesis before being completed later by Confirmation and the Eucharist, the summit of their Christian initiation (no. 1233; see also nos. 1290 and 1321).
For a better understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation, please refer to out Faith Fact The Sacrament of Confirmation. You may also want to read paragraphs 1285-1321 in the Catechism.
United in the Faith,
