by Alan Jacques
THE Catholic Bishop of Limerick has suggested that the Confirmation age is too young and that children might not be aware of what’s going on.
In a major address in Adare to launch Catholic Schools Week, Bishop Leahy implied that 12-year-olds find little resonance between sacramental ceremonies and what is going on in their everyday life at home. He also claimed that the Catholic faith often appears like a pre-fabricated cultural package of Irish heritage we are born into, only to be discarded nonchalantly later in life as part of our throwaway culture.
Bishop Leahy feels it is important that students are re-awoken to the fact that being a Catholic is an option and sees religious education in schools as “vital” in this re-awakening. He offered 16 as an appropriate age for the “important ritual” of Confirmation, that could be carried out through a parish-based programme during Transition Year.
