It is called confirmation. It isn't nearly as much fun as what the Senate does to a Secretary of Defense Candidate, but, you get lots of presents and money, so why ask questions?
But, you have to have another sponsor. This time you get to ask someone you approve of because you can ask for yourself. So, it is a favorite Aunt of Uncle or neighbor that belongs to the same church that knows all the things you told the priest in confessions all these years.
Then there is a name you have to choose. I took my mother's middle name. I kinda felt I had to because otherwise she would have cried or something. I wanted to take the name Virginia for obvious reasons. It's a god thing, ya know? But, what the heck, Grace was close enough.
This is the right of passage into adulthood. It happens about the same age at the mitzvahs.
"God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your heart."
Yep, that lasted until I got serious with my boyfriend and went on the pill at seventeen. Then even Grace didn't seem like an appropriate name anymore. What the heck. My best friend was valedictorian of our class and she was asking me for advice about her boyfriend and the pill. We had confirmation on the same, too. Ah, those sweet years before college. Proms. SATS. Football. Cheerleaders. Indeed. Achievement.
It is called Confirmation because it confirms and strengthens baptismal grace.
Baptism, Communion and Confirmation are all ceremony of initiation. Catholicism is a community commitment. It is a celebration of an individual life. Every life. Not just a congregation, but, every life is initiated into the holiness of the church. Every person has a place. It seems so very strange to me to have individuals left out of the church when they have done nothing but be human.
