Confirmation

n Scotland, children receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in their last year of primary school - at the age of eleven. It is a Sacrament of affirmation whereby the children are confirming that they want to become full adult members of the church. When they were first ??????? into the church at Baptism, and adult 'godparents' made certain promises for them. During Confirmation the children make these promises themselves.

y Confirmation Day was on the third of November. We did a lot of preparation. We went to a meeting in the church hall with our parent, teachers and Father Hand. We watched a video and discussed our workbook. In class we chose a saints name. I chose Anne, then we had to pick a sponsor. A sponsor is someone who need to be over sixteen years old and a practicing catholic. My Uncle Matthew was mine and we had to research on our saint.

At home me and my dad sat down and talked about my workbook and confirmation. At our confirmation we had to wear our school uniform which is a shirt, school tie and a skirt for the girls and trousers for the boys. We went for a practice up in the church the day before we got confirmed.

Our Confirmation day arrived. I got to the church and sat beside my sponsor. We got a candle and I had to get a light off of Lisa's candle. The Bishop asked us questions and we had to say, "I do."

It was my turn to go up to the altar. I knelt in front of the bishop and my sponsor put their hand on my shoulder. I came down off the altar and my teacher shook my hand a gave a dove badge. We went out of the church and went into the hall for a drink and biscuits. I didn't stay long. I went to my Aunties house to have a celebration. I got lots of cards and money. I had a great time!

By Nicola Martin

efore I made my Confirmation I had to prepare for it, I had to do meetings. I also had to choose a sponsor. I chose my Auntie Ella because she is a catholic. She always goes to church and she's willing to help me grow as a Christian. We got a Confirmation workbook. We discussed pages with our teacher and she told us all about Confirmation. We went to church to practice. We practiced receiving Confirmation and holding our candles. We made candles to decorate the church. My saint was John Bosco. He was born in a little farm near Turin in Italy. He had several jobs. He was a tailor, a baker, a show maker and a carpenter then he became a priest.

In our workbook we discussed more pages with our parents. I had to get a new shirt.

At Confirmation we went out to the Archbishop and he anointed us with Chrism. After the service we went into the hall for a celebration.