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Confirmation Preparation Program FAQs
How do I get confirmed?
Catholic students who wish to be confirmed may join the Confirmation Preparation Program. Please contact Matthew Hall (mh968@cornell.edu) to make an appointment and/or fill out the inquiry form.
How long is the preparation program?
The Confirmation Preparation Program takes place during the academic year, from September until May. The highpoint is the celebration of Confirmation at the Easter Vigil or at another time during the Easter season. Since we are at an academic institution, the program is conducted within the academic calendar as well as the liturgical (church) calendar.
What's involved?
A schedule of optional and required events is distributed to program participants at the beginning of the school year. You will be invited to:
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register as a member of the parish
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attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days (a life-long commitment!)
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help provide for the needs of the Church
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gather regularly with the other Confirmation candidates for teaching, discussion, and friendship
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attend other prayer, service, learning, and social events according to your personal interest and availability
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meet periodically with a campus minister and priest
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choose a sponsor
What's a sponsor?
A sponsor is a confirmed Catholic (someone over the age of 16, other than your parents, who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation) who actively participates in the life of the Church and is committed to his or her faith. Your sponsor walks with you on the journey of faith and shares his or her experience of being Catholic with you. Your sponsor also stands with you at the time you receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.
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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 the building up of 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).