Lift up Your Hearts:
Completing the Initiation of Children
by Rev Dr Barry Craig
Lists of our Sacraments always begin with these four in this order: 1) Baptism, 2) Confirmation, 3) Eucharist, 4) Penance. This reflects the order in which they occurred from ancient times, with the first three celebrated in a single ceremony while Penance was introduced later. This remains the case in Eastern and Oriental Churches, and it is in our restored Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). However currently, for most Roman Catholics baptised as infants, there are four separate events; Penance is second, and for the majority it is followed by Eucharist and then Confirmation some years later. The changed position of Penance can be explained easily, but the reversal of Confirmation and Eucharist defies coherent explanation unless Confirmation is accorded an essentially different meaning from what it first had. A revised meaning for Confirmation and the reversal of proper order has not been accepted universally. (As long ago as 22 June 1897, Pope Leo XIII objected to it in a letter the bishop of Marseille; Bishop Thomas Cahill in the Diocese of Cairns 1948-1967 also insisted on Confirmation before Communion.) Many dioceses have more recently restored the original order, but then they struggle to modify preparation programs to better fit that sequence.
After watching and pondering for some years what was happening in parishes it dawned on me that we need to revise our view of the sacraments of initiation and to re-establish a more integrated and comprehensive experience – one that is easier on all involved, and one that better prepares the children to participate consciously and actively in the Eucharist as the culmination of initiation and the nourishing source of the Christian life. To explain this requires turning back first to our source documents in the New Testament.
After watching and pondering for some years what was happening in parishes it dawned on me that we need to revise our view of the sacraments of initiation and to re-establish a more integrated and comprehensive experience – one that is easier on all involved, and one that better prepares the children to participate consciously and actively in the Eucharist as the culmination of initiation and the nourishing source of the Christian life. To explain this requires turning back first to our source documents in the New Testament.
Baptism in the New Testament is complex. John’s baptism of repentance for remission of sins was performed in water, perhaps a reworking of the Jewish ritual bath for purification. John is reported saying that while he baptised with water the coming Christ would baptise with the Holy Spirit. The accounts of the baptism of Jesus include the Holy Spirit descending on him. The Apostles and other disciples perhaps had only John’s baptism before they received the Holy Spirit as the Church was born and commissioned on Easter Sunday according to John 20:20, or at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. The Church’s baptism is sometimes described as being in water and for remission of sins, sometimes with the Holy Spirit, and sometimes both. It is often said to be in the name of Jesus, and only once in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Acts 10:44-48, non-baptised Gentiles first receive the Holy Spirit and then they are baptised in water, while in Acts 19:1-7, some disciples whom Paul met had had only John’s baptism of repentance and so they were then baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus (without specifying how) and received the Holy Spirit when Paul laid hands on them. Elsewhere, being gifted with the Holy Spirit is said to be an anointing.
Little evidence has survived from the first three centuries for how initiation was performed, but there are hints at there being two distinct practices depending on the region, one as a bath of purification, the other as an anointing with oil. It appears that a fusion of these two rituals formed the main initiation rites for which there is much evidence from the fourth and fifth centuries, the golden age of the catechumenate. Preparatory rituals were performed in Lent, and the initiation proper was normally celebrated during the vigil of Easter night (Holy Saturday): the candidates were led from the church to the baptistery where each was baptised in the waters in the font and then was presented to the bishop who laid hands on them and anointed them with Chrism. Now as members of the Church, the Body of Christ, they were led back into the church to join in the Eucharist for the first time. Over the next few days or weeks, in a series of lectures (the mystagogia) the bishop explained to the neophytes the rituals they had undergone, including the Eucharist. Since they had not been present for the Eucharist before that night, it was only now that they were taught what they were to say and do at Eucharist.
Children of Christians went through the same initiation ceremony and could be communicants from infancy. As whole populations became largely Christian, the need for adult initiation diminished and vanished, and so did the preparatory rites of the catechumenate and the mystagogia. Infant baptism became the norm, and eventually came to be celebrated on any day soon after birth. This made it impractical for bishops always to be present, so in the East and some places in the West, priests confirmed, thus preserving the traditional unity of Baptism and Confirmation. However in the West, bishops ultimately reserved Confirmation to themselves, but this required its separation from Baptism, detaching also the first reception of Communion; even giving Communion to infants (up to seven years) was eventually forbidden. The history of children’s initiation in the West up to modern times is very interesting, but it need not be covered here beyond noting that Confirmation was reinterpreted by many not as part of initiation but as an optional extra to strengthen Christian commitment and as a sign of maturity.
When we focus on the original unity of the sacraments and the character of their rites, a simple and comprehensive explanation for the two becomes clear:
♦ Baptism washes clean; it washes away sin.
♦ Confirmation consecrates to sacred duties.
To expound briefly on these, sin is washed away in the cleansing water of baptism, making candidates presentable to the Lord. Then the laying on of hands and anointing or christening instils the Holy Spirit to consecrate the baptised to sacred duties which, in this first instance, is to join the other members of the Church, the Body of Christ, in the exercise of his priesthood by the offering of the Eucharist and the reception of the sacramental signs, the symbol of our communion in him.
When we focus on the original unity of the sacraments and the character of their rites, a simple and comprehensive explanation for the two becomes clear:
♦ Baptism washes clean; it washes away sin.
♦ Confirmation consecrates to sacred duties.
To expound briefly on these, sin is washed away in the cleansing water of baptism, making candidates presentable to the Lord. Then the laying on of hands and anointing or christening instils the Holy Spirit to consecrate the baptised to sacred duties which, in this first instance, is to join the other members of the Church, the Body of Christ, in the exercise of his priesthood by the offering of the Eucharist and the reception of the sacramental signs, the symbol of our communion in him.
This brings us to the matter of the years falling between the two celebrations and why Penance is placed in between. The West’s established practice defers Communion until the child can distinguish between right and wrong and so is capable of acknowledging wrong-doing and being sorry for it. In the experience of personal sin, even if only in a very minor manner, the state of the newly baptised is lost. In the Sacrament of Penance sin is absolved with a form of words and the penitent is restored to the state enjoyed when newly baptised. The best way of doing this in age-appropriate ways remains an open question. Instead of the daunting experience many of us were subjected to, it is fitting that it be an uplifting and freeing experience, just as Baptism is for adult candidates.
For adults Baptism readies the candidate to be confirmed and Communion follows at once. For children it is appropriate that Penance does likewise: it should promptly be followed by Confirmation and participation in the Eucharist. In some places this may be done in a single ceremony, as it is for adults. In other places Confirmation is conferred outside Mass on a weekday so that the first Communion for the newly confirmed takes place at a normal Sunday Eucharist in the parish. This pattern works well in rural parishes with multiple churches, all the candidates celebrating Confirmation with the bishop, but then joining the regular Sunday congregations for the final step.
There is more to sacred duties than participation in the Eucharist, namely, the prophetic ministry of proclaiming the Good News to all, and working for and building up the kingdom of God, but there is no need to cover everything in children’s preparation. Keeping the simple explanation for Confirmation foremost is the best way to guide preparation; there is no need for children to learn any particular number of gifts of the Holy Spirit, nor to overemphasise Pentecost as if it were the only relevant episode in Scripture. Rather, the focus should be on the first sacred duty to be performed after Confirmation, and that is, participation in the Eucharist. Another condition to establish readiness to be confirmed and receive first Communion is that the child understands there is a difference between ordinary bread and wine and the eucharistic Body and Blood that demands respect. Exploring this can be part of preparation that highlights all the people’s vocal parts of the Eucharistic Prayer. It is saddening at ‘first Communion’ events to see the children silent throughout, knowing how to receive Communion but not knowing how to be part of the Eucharist. It has long been known that singing helps us all memorise texts; so teach them to sing their parts. It is a joy to hear children’s voices replying confidently, We lift them up to the Lord. It is a delight to hear them cue the priest for the first line of the Eucharistic Prayer, It is right and just.
Rev Dr Barry Craig studied liturgy in Rome and is parish priest of Malanda in the Diocese of Cairns in Queensland.
Originally published in Liturgy News, Vol 51/4, Summer 2021.
Images from Unsplash and Pixabay. Used under license/with permission.
Originally published in Liturgy News, Vol 51/4, Summer 2021.
Images from Unsplash and Pixabay. Used under license/with permission.