The Sacrament of Confirmation celebrates the fullness of the Holy Spirit conferred upon the individual at Baptism.
Those who wish to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation are invited into a deeper relationship with Jesus and full, active, conscious participation in the life of the parish!
Preparation for Confirmation is parish-based, meaning that students from the Parish School, other Catholic Schools, Home School programs, and Parish Faith Formation meet together for activities and instruction. Our goal is to get you to the starting point, Confirmation Day, for continued involvement in the Church & relationship with Christ.
Mass attendance every weekend is crucial in forming the commitment to the Catholic Faith in the context of a parish which one seeks to proclaim membership.
Those who are entering into Confirmation preparation must also be in a Catholic School or age-appropriate Parish-based Faith Formation or an approved religion curriculum for Home-School families who do not attend public school. In addition to regular religious education and Confirmation preparation classes, ongoing Mass attendance is a necessary part of the Confirmation journey and our lives as Catholics.
Confirmation candidates are asked to choose a sponsor. Sponsors take an active part in the preparation of the candidate by accompanying the candidate through the various phases of the preparation process. This year, sponsors are asked to take a more active role by participating in 2 of the in-person sessions. If a sponsor is out of state, the candidate and sponsor can complete the discussion/reflection that takes place during class at another time.
Sponsors must be at least 16, Confirmed, and eligible to participate in the Sacramental life of the Church. Forms are available on the left-hand side of the page and must be signed and sealed by the sponsor's parish.
*Sponsor forms are due by October 26th in class*
There is a $50 Confirmation donation asked for at the time of registration. This donation helps to cover to cost of books, stoles, letters for stoles, costs surrounding the reception of the sacrament, etc.
An invoice will be sent to you at a later date after your child is registered. You do not have to pay at the time of registration. If you would like to pay using cash or check, please make checks payable to St. Stephen Church and drop them off to the Pastorate Office located at Holy Spirit Church or bring them to the first class.
Please do not let finances keep you from registering your child for Confirmation preparation classes. We are happy to work with you and your family to ensure our classes are available to all. Please contact Aubrey Youngs at [email protected] if you need assistance with the Confirmation donation.
In the years following Confirmation, newly confirmed youth are encouraged to continue in their weekly Mass attendance, ongoing and continued age-appropriate faith formation, and Christian service. In particular, youth are invited to be active in a parish-based ministry to share their gifts as missionary disciples in their Church community and beyond! Many opportunities are available for a variety of interests. To get involved in a ministry, please contact Ms. Aubrey at [email protected]
In the new format of Confirmation Preparation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, community service for Confirmation looks different than it has in the past. It is no longer required for the Confirmation candidate to earn a minimum number of community service hours in order to receive the sacrament.
However, because service to the Church and to others is an essential part of our lives as Catholics, they are called to participate in some type of community service activity or project and write a brief reflection as a response. The reflection should include what type of service they participated in, what they liked or disliked about it, who they served, how they felt they were Christ to that person/those people, and if it is a service they would or plan to participate in again.
This reflection will be submitted and shared in a small group setting at their last Confirmation session. There is no restriction on what type of service is performed or how long it is. The goal is for the candidate to experience serving a person, a group of people, or an organization in response to our lifelong call of being a disciple of Christ and serving those around us.
It is the hope of our Pastorate and the Archdiocese that this shift in emphasis from a required amount of hours on a checklist to a genuine service experience being a disciple of Christ will help them to grow in their relationship with God, ignite in them a passion for serving others, and enhance their Confirmation preparation journey by bringing the focus to the reception of the Sacrament and what it means to them.