Confirmation is a Catholic Sacrament of Christian commitment and a deepening of baptismal gifts. It is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation for Catholics. It is most often associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

• Visit here for confirmation of youth. 
• Visit here for confirmation of adults.

Theology of Confirmation FAQs

What is Confirmation?
The Sacrament of Confirmation, along with the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, is one of the sacraments of Christian initiation. Becoming a confirmed Catholic means making a public declaration of your faith and a life-long commitment to the Christian life of prayer, charity, and evangelization. This sacrament seals candidates with the Holy Spirit and "is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace" (CCC, no. 1285). It confirms your adoption as a son or daughter of God and gives you a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the Catholic faith in word and action as a true witness of Christ. You are empowered to be a Christian witness in public, "as it were officially," as a full member of the Church (CCC, nos. 1303–1305).

Why do I need to be confirmed?
Confirmation is necessary to complete our Christian initiation. Jesus Christ asked the Father to give the Holy Spirit to the Church for building up the community in loving service. Faith, which is gifted to us at Baptism, takes root in a deeper, more intense, and more personal manner through Confirmation.

What are the graces or effects of Confirmation?
Through Confirmation, we are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Drawing on the Scriptures, the Church has traditionally identified seven gifts—wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, piety, and fear of the Lord—that assist each Christian in his or her own personal mission and witness. The impact of these gifts accompanies us in the various stages of our spiritual development and empowers us to fulfill our vocation in life. Of course, the number seven is didactic and should not be taken too literally or narrowly. There are as many gifts of the Spirit as there are manifestations of God's power in Christian people's lives (cf. 1 Cor 12:4).

Wisdom enables us to see the world from God’s viewpoint, which can help us come to grasp the purpose and plan of God. It grants us the long-range view of history, examining the present in the light of the past and the mystery of the future. It saves us from the illusion that the spirit of the times is our only guide. The Spirit’s gift of knowledge directs us beyond information and into contemplation of, or the thoughtful reflection upon, the mystery of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as well as of the mysteries of the Catholic faith. We are drawn to meditative prayer, where we allow God to lead us while we rest patiently in the divine presence.

The gift of understanding stimulates us to work on knowing ourselves as part of our growth in knowing God. It is what St. Augustine meant when he prayed, “That I may know You, may I know myself.” When the Spirit pours fortitude or courage into our hearts, we can trust that we will be prepared to stand up for Christ and the Gospel when challenged. As the gift of counsel or right judgment grows in us, we can sense the quiet teaching that the Spirit gives us about our moral lives and the training of our consciences.

The gift of piety or reverence is an act of loving respect for the Father who created us, for Jesus who saved us, and for the Spirit who is sanctifying us. We learn reverence for God and people from our parents and others who train us in virtue. The Spirit fills us with this gift especially through the liturgy, as well as through popular devotions (such as the Rosary).

Finally, the gift of fear of the Lord or wonder and awe in God’s presence can infuse honesty into our relationship with God, a frankness that places us in awe before the majesty of God. Yet the gift also imparts an attitude of grateful wonder that God loves us and that we can share in his life.

When we are responsive to the grace of Confirmation and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we begin to bear the fruits of the Spirit. The tradition of the Church names twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity (cf. CCC, no. 1832; Gal 5:22).

The Rite of Confirmation
The debate within the church about this sacrament is reflected in the variety of ages suggested for its celebration. In some places, the church confirms infants when they are baptized. In other cultures, confirmation may come at the same time as first communion. The practice in much of this diocese is to confirm during the high school years, letting confirmation come as the mark of a more mature decision for membership in the church where the young person is invited to choose to follow Christ's teachings as a Catholic. Confirmation is historically a sacrament of initiation, along with baptism and eucharist.

In the liturgy, the presence of the candidates is primary. In fact, their presence is made to the whole parish in the weeks before the confirmation: by praying for them publicly, by the presence of the group with their sponsors at Sunday Masses, usually the 5:00 PM Mass.  At the confirmation liturgy, their individual names need to be heard, and each face seen. They are not a “confirmation class,” a crowd of anonymous tenth graders and adults: They are so many individuals, each one of whom has requested confirmation and has been found ready, each one of whom has a sponsor and the pastor to testify to that readiness. The candidates and sponsors should help in the preparation of the confirmation liturgy, learning about and especially experiencing the power and the history of the laying on of hands and the anointing with perfumed oil.

Confirmation ordinarily means the presence of the bishop. The liturgy is often simple, without additional elements that are intended to give solemnity but, in fact, obscure or weaken the central symbols of laying on of hands, anointing, and eucharist. Preparation rites can set a festive mood. The liturgy of the word proceeds much as on any Sunday.

In the rite of confirmation, after the gospel, the candidates are called by name; the bishop addresses the candidates in the homily. The rites that follow proceed without commentary or explanation. Everything is arranged so that the imposition of hands, with the silence that comes before, is a most powerful experience. That can happen when all attention is on the bishop and the candidates when the silence is total when the gesture is full and the prayer is well-spoken or sung when the “Amen” is like the great Amen at the conclusion of the eucharistic prayer. Then all should be able to see the chrism, the oil mixed with fragrant perfume and blessed by the bishop on Monday of Holy Week. The anointing is to make generous use of the oil, and the oil is not to be wiped off afterward; if anything, it should be rubbed in. The fragrance of the chrism should fill the whole room. The vessel used for the oil, its rich fragrance, even carrying the oil in the entrance procession and honoring it with incense: All help to transform the anointing from a mysterious bit of tradition to a beautiful rite of the church, honoring and strengthening the presence of the Holy Spirit in its members.

After the anointing, the table is prepared for the eucharist, for a festive banquet.