CELEBRATION OF CONFIRMATION BEGINS NEXT WEEKEND

Next weekend (10-12 May) marks the beginning of the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation throughout the Diocese of Clogher for 2019. Confirmation will be administered over the following three weekends, concluding on Sunday 26 May.

Receiving the sacrament of Confirmation is a special moment for young people and their families. It is also an important event in the life of each parish. The Catholic Church teaches that Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation together constitute the sacraments of Christian initiation – sacraments that make and renew us as members of the Church. It teaches that the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary ‘for the completion of baptismal grace’, in other words, for confirming believers to be full members of the Christian Community that is called the Church. Those who are confirmed are transformed into true witnesses of Christ and obliged to spread and defend the Christian faith by word and deed. (See, Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. no’s 1285, 1317).

While the timetable for this year’s Confirmations was agreed before news of his appointment as Bishop of Clogher was announced last December, this year is historic in that it will see Bishop Larry Duffy lead the diocese for the first time in the celebration of this great sacrament. The Bishop is the ‘ordinary’ or usual minister of the sacrament. However, he may delegate this function to other priests on certain occasions or in order that the whole diocese can join in the celebration within a given timeframe. Thus, the administration of the sacrament in some parishes has been delegated by the bishop to various members of the Diocesan Chapter of Canons. From next year on, the bishop hopes to administer the sacrament in more parishes than is the case at present, although he will still be assisted by others. This is to enable him visit each parish over as short a cycle as possible, while taking into account the various constraints at this time of year.

Speaking this week, Bishop Duffy asked people across the diocese to pray for all the young people being confirmed this year. ‘I ask people to pray especially that the young people will always be models of our Christian faith by the way in which they express their closeness to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Please pray for their parents and guardians, their grandparents and their brothers and sisters, their sponsors, their wider family circles and also for the communities in which they live. May the Holy Spirit guide them so that they may be models of the love that Jesus shows for each of us every day.’, he said.

The following are the dates, venues and times of Confirmations across the diocese in 2019.