reason, maturity, and initiation

8/6/2019 Reason, Maturity, And Initiation

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REASON, MATURITY, AND INITIATION:

EXPLORING THE AGE OF CONFIRMATION

___________________

A Paper

Presented to

Dr. Scott Hahn

Franciscan University of Steubenville

___________________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Course

THE314 D The Sacraments

___________________

by

John Paul Dominic Brodeur

May 2011

Box #217


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REASON, MATURITY, AND INITIATION:

EXPLORING THE AGE OF CONFIRMATION

The history of Confirmation in the Catholic Church is a long and arduous study,

and even to this day, the sacrament of Confirmation searches for a defining theology. The

primary reason for confusion arises from the variety in its practice. Indeed, in the diverse

practice of Confirmation, the modern Church experiences the ramifications of one of its oldest

idioms: Lex orandi, lex credendi, The law of worship is the law of belief. When the

liturgical practice of Confirmation is so diverse that it seemingly contradicts itself or serves dual

purposes, the faithful are deprived of the insights necessary to further probe the mystery of Faith.

Thus, it is of the utmost importance that an account be made of the current situation in light of

Sacred Tradition, in order to appropriate the most essential truths needed to reform the practice

of the sacrament at large. With such intent, this paper will explore the age of Confirmation in

widespread practice and as it is prescribed in the Churchs Tradition so as to theologically

distinguish between essential and non-essential purposes of the sacramental practice.

In a 2004 document entitled Receive the Gift: the Age of Confirmation, the United States

Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) enumerates the variety of occasions and age ranges

during which Confirmation may be administered:

Nonbaptized adults and nonbaptized children of catechetical age celebrate Confirmationwithin the ceremony of their Baptism; Those baptized Catholic as infants or very young

children are confirmed in childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood; Adults baptized in

other Christian churches are confirmed during the Rite of Reception of Baptized

Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church; Catholics in danger of deathare confirmed at whatever age they find themselves to be in danger; Infants in the Eastern

Catholic Churches are confirmed (chrismated) immediately after receiving Baptism.i

The most diverse category in the aforementioned list is Cradle Catholics, those who have been

baptized in their infancy, a normative majority of Latin Catholics. According to the USCCB, the


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age of Confirmation in this group ranges from childhood through adolescence, and even into

adulthood. All other groups mentioned have normative prescriptions for the reception of

Confirmation: Non-baptized children and adults of catechetical age as well as children born in

Eastern churches all receive Confirmation with the ceremony of their Baptism; adults being

accepted into the Church are likewise confirmed at the same time; any Catholic in danger of

death may receive the sacrament because of the urgency which his situation provides him. Why,

then, do Cradle Catholics have such diversity in the age at which they receive the sacrament?

The answer to this question can be found in the Code of Canon Law canon 891 which

sets the norm for all Catholics baptized as infants or young children in the Latin Catholic

Church: The sacrament of confirmation is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of

discretion unless the conference of bishops has determined another ageii

Effective since

July 1, 2002, the United States has a complementary legislation for this canon. It reads: The

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in accord with the prescriptions of canon 891,

hereby decrees that the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Latin Rite shall be conferred between

the age of discretion and about sixteen years of age, within the limits determined by the diocesan

bishop and with regard for the legitimate exceptions given in canon 891.iii Thus, each diocesan

bishop is ultimately responsible for determining the necessary limits for his particular diocese. iv

The legal range within which he is allowed to legislate is from 7 to 16 years of age, a difference

of about 9 years. When enacting legislation concerning the age of Confirmation, a local bishop

may enact an age range coterminous with the national range (including all 9 years), a more

limited age range within the national range (e.g. ages 12-14), or a single age within the national

range.v

According to the USCCB, considerations of the local bishop should include first, the

theology of Confirmation; second, the history of the sacrament; third, the availability of

ministers for the conferral of the sacrament; fourth, parish catechetical structures and programs;

and fifth, the standard age of neighboring diocese.vi

The USCCB provides some helpful analysis regarding typical limited age ranges

currently effective in various dioceses throughout the United States. The first of these is the age


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of discretion (also known as the age of reason) which coincides with First and Second Grade.

As such, it also coincides with the legally prescribed age for the ordinary reception of first

Penance and first Holy Communion.vii

The USCCB goes on to enumerate the overwhelming

benefits of Confirming during this age range: First, children will have some comprehension of

the event (since they have reached the age of reason); second, they benefit from the grace of the

Holy Spirit as soon as possible; third, it is more likely that those who receive Holy Communion

will receive Confirmation; fourth, they gain the ability to follow the natural sequence of the

Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, then Confirmation, then Holy Communionthe same

sequence followed by theRite of Christian Initiation of Adultsviii and Eastern Catholic Churches;

fifth, the initiatory aspect of the sacrament is made clearer;ix

and sixth, the Eucharist is more

clearly signified as the summitx

of Christian initiation.xi

Significant challenges to the practice of Confirmation during this age range are also

enumerated: First, a large catechetical demand is placed on young children, who receive three

sacraments (Penance, Confirmation, and first Holy Communion) all within a very short period of

time. That is why common practice in this range is to celebrate Confirmation in the first grade,

and first Holy Communion in the second grade. Second, there is a declining incentive for

continuing catechesis afterward. Finally, it renders Confirmation incapable of marking the

passage from childhood to adulthood. It is too early a time for the child to begin taking an adult

responsibility for his faith and actions.xii

The next age range presented by the USCCB is that which coincides with the Fifth and

Sixth Grades. Here, the bishops observe a more expansive period of preparation, allowing

children more time to absorb the mysteries between the time they receive first Holy Communion

and the time they receive the sacrament of Confirmation. However, Confirming during this

period still respects the impulse of the Church to provide the gift of the Holy Spirit to young

children as soon as is possible.xiii A significant challenge which they denote is how the

initiatory aspect of Confirmation has already become obscured.xiv


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A third age range which they present coincides with young adolescents in Grades Seven

through Nine. The USCCB speaks highly about the new layers of meaning which can be derived

from the experience of puberty and a new level of education.xv

It forcibly reiterates how well it

coincides with human maturation, stressing that particular aspects of the theology of

Confirmation can be emphasized more effectively: strengthening, becoming more like Christ,

bearing witness, and being bound more closely to the Church all capture the attention of

adolescents entering high school in ways that disinterest most younger children.xvi Another

benefit which the bishops find is the opportunity provided for catechesis independent of

sacramental preparation.xvii The two challenges listed are challenges related to the proper

identification of the sacrament. It is now further unrecognizable as an initiation rite, and it is still

too early in the human maturation process to consider it a maturity rite.xviii

The final age range provided in the USCCB document coincides with Tenth to Eleventh

Grades. The bishops take note of how Confirmation at this age bolsters the pastoral care that the

Church can provide through community, catechesis, and sacraments. They also list how

Confirmation at this age ritualizes the self-appropriation of faith and the ongoing conversion

which is the natural end of progressive catechesis. Finally, they observe, Catholic youth in this

age group are particularly enlivened by a sense of active Christian social responsibility, and they

often perform marvelous works for the good of the Church and the wider local community.xix

Despite these enumerated benefits, the USCCB also lists a surprisingly long list of

challenges (both pastoral & theological) which Confirmation creates during this period. First, in

this particular age range, the bishops observe a growing disinterest in the Church propelled by a

pressure both from within and from without to gain independence from those values commonly

held by the family and the community. Some diocese, they write, offer Confirmation to

youth in this age group in order to channel their energy, to encourage their questions about Christ

and the Church, and to deepen their awareness of the truths they discover through more intense

catechesis.xx A second challenge is signifying the Eucharist as the climax of the initiation

process.xxi Third, they observe a common misinterpretation of Baptism as a non-denominational


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Christian initiation which is made Catholic by Confirmation once the faith has been

appropriated. In this line of thinking, to refuse Confirmation would be equivalent to rejecting

Catholicism, but adult faith, the bishops remind the reader, should not be confused with adult age

of natural growth. The catechism is also cited to express how the grace of baptism does not need

human ratification to become effective.xxii A fourth challenge is clarifying adolescent

commitment: not undervaluing the weekly recitation of the creed, reception of Holy

Communion, and the annual renewal of Baptismal vows at Easter. These rituals already

presume their commitment. They express the reality that there is one Church, not that there is

one for youth and another for adults. All of the baptized form one Church in Christ.

Recommitment is not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but Confirmation is a once-in-a-lifetime

sacrament.xxiii

A fifth challenge presented is the result of identifying adolescent Confirmation

as a sacrament of commitment. This creates an inconsistent understanding of the sacrament,

especially in relation to other common instances of its reception. The final challenge enumerated

is the misrepresentation of the gift of the Holy Spirit as a kind of reward for catechetical

study.xxiv

In the USCCBs analysis, an attentive reader may discover two particular approaches to

the sacrament of Confirmation which seem to create a sort of unresolvable tension. The first is

identifying the sacrament with Christian initiation, and the second is identifying the sacrament

with human maturation as it is analogous to spiritual maturation. Each seems to be given equal

preference by the Bishops Conference, but each seems to crowd out the significance of the

other. How can this tension be effectively resolved? Does either one of these descriptions take

precedence over the other? Thankfully, there are fairly clear answers to these questions, and

they are embedded in the great wealth of Sacred Tradition.

Bishop Robert Joseph Cunningham writes that the tradition of the Church stresses two

crucial ideas: the first being a constant refusal to disassociate baptism and confirmation, and the

second being a constant refusal to reduce confirmation to being simply a stage within the

sacrament of baptism.xxv Indeed, even as Confirmation began being celebrated independent of


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Baptism, reasoning power was not an essential pre-requisite for confirmation.xxvi

Canon 786 of

the Corpis Juris Canonicireads, In order that one may receive confirmation licitly and with

fruit, he must be in the state of grace, and if he has the use of reason, he must be sufficiently

instructed.xxvii

This teaching was further clarified by a response of the Sacred Congregation of

the Sacraments in 1934 detailing what sufficient instruction meant. It decreed that in preparing

for the Sacrament of Confirmation, the child should receive instruction according to his

capacity, upon the nature, dignity, [and] effects of the sacrament, and on the requisite conditions

for its worthy receptionxxviiinot therefore, as Marian Bohen writes, an intensive instruction

covering all of Christian doctrine, to be examined by the bishop.xxix This same decree of 1934

makes provision for a dying infant to receive the sacrament of Confirmation so that upon

leaving this life he mayhave greater glory in heaven.xxx

Additionally, the order of the sacraments of initiation has a strong tradition in the

Churchs history. In 1281, the thirteenth-century Council of Lambeth actually prohibited those

who had not yet received Confirmation from receiving the Eucharist.xxxi

In the mid-19th

century, several councils of French bishops began legislating that first Holy Communion should

precede Confirmation insteadmuch like the common American practice today. Shortly after

Florian-Jules-Flix Desprez was appointed to the new diocese of La Runion, he convened a

council during which he considered the age of confirmation. Among the resulting ordinances

was included the following: The pastor will only need to present to us for confirmation those

persons who have made their first communion or who should make it within the course of the

year.xxxii

However, once the Sacred Congregation of the Council in Rome read this, a change

was immediately requested on the basis of what was already deemed an historical precedent:

Since for a long time a lower age has been required for admittance to the sacrament ofconfirmation than for admittance to first communion, as the Roman Catechism offers in

"Confirmation", (number 18) and as Benedict XIV teaches in "Diocesan Synod" (book 7,chapter 10, numbers 2 and 3), it is proposed to you that the doctrine reported (article 22,

p. 19 in the Synodal Acts) be reformed accordingly, so that the first place may be for

conferring confirmation, and then, at an opportune time, for supplying first

communion.xxxiii


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The First Vatican Council is even bolder in its portrayal of the traditional sequence of the

sacraments. It calls the sequence a perpetual practice and dismisses the reverse order as

absurd:

Since in some places a custom contrary to the perpetual practice of the church has

grown up, in which confirmation is administered by an absurd order only to those who

have already been admitted to the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, we wish this tobe corrected completely; especially since one who has already begun to fight against the

enemy should not be kept from armor. It should be clear, as St. Thomas Aquinas says,

that many in the age of childhood have fought bravely for the sake of Christ because of

the strength of the Holy Spirit they have received.xxxiv

Pope Leo XIII, in a letter Abrogata to the Bishop of Marseilles dated June 22, 1897, re-

approved the practice of conferring Confirmation before first Holy Communion. He wrote:

That opinion [of administering first Holy Communion before Confirmation] which hadgrown strong there [in France] and in other places corresponded neither to the old and

constant intent of the church, nor to the advantage of the faithful. For the beginnings of

cupidity are in the souls of children. Unless they are erased as early as possible, they

gradually grow stronger, entice those inexperienced in matters, and lead to great danger.Therefore the faithful, even from the tender years, have a need "to be clothed with

strength from on high," which the sacrament of confirmation was born to produce. In it,

as St. Thomas Aquinas rightly notes, the Holy Spirit is given for the strength of thespiritual fight and humanity is advanced spiritually to a mature age. Moreover,

adolescents having thus been confirmed become more conformable to understanding

precepts, and more fit for receiving the Eucharist afterwards, and they grasp moreabundant benefits from what they receive.

xxxv

These words of Pope Leo XIII are simply remarkable. He plainly asserts that receiving

first Holy Communion prior to Confirmation is to the disadvantage of the faithful but he does

not simply express an opinion. He confidently calls upon the tradition as his witness, and he

emphasizes the great aid which the sacrament can provide adolescents who have already

received it. He understands the sacrament of Confirmation as a means of readying the child for a

more fitting reception of the Eucharist, interpreting Confirmation as a source of mysterious

capacity for spiritual development when receiving Holy Communion.

In 1932, the Sacred Congregation on the Sacraments made the most direct statement of

any Roman congregation and for the first time linked Confirmation with Baptism:


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It is truly opportune and more conformable to the nature and effects of the sacrament of

confirmation, that children should only approach the sacred table for the first time afterthe reception of the sacrament of confirmation, which is, as it were, the complement of

baptism and in which is given the fullness of the Holy Spirit (St. Thomas, III, q. 72, art.

2). However, these same should not be considered prohibited from the same table before

they are admitted, if they had attained the years of discretion, even though they were notable to receive the sacrament ofconfirmation previously.xxxvi

Thus, while the Sacred Congregation on the Sacraments declares an explicit preference

for the reception of Confirmation prior to first Holy Communion, it does not refuse the

unconfirmed faithful from receiving the Eucharist like the Council of Lambeth did. Even more

convincing is how in 1948, the Statutes of Limoges which had once read It is very desirable that

all children presented for confirmation already have been admitted to communionxxxvii

were

amended to read, It is very desirable that children admitted to communion have been presented

for confirmation.xxxviii

Finally, in the Second Vatican Councils apostolic constitution on the Rite of

Confirmation (Divinae consortium naturae), Paul VI wrote reaffirming the traditional sequence

of the sacraments of initiation:

The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certainlikeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born

anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in theEucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation,they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance

toward the perfection of charity.xxxix

For Paul VI, there is a kind Eucharistic direction in the celebration of the sacraments of

initiation such that both baptism and confirmation find their end in the Sacrament of Charity.

This is a significant theme for Pope Benedict XVI. In his work on the Eucharist he writes, It

must never be forgotten that our reception of Baptism and Confirmation is ordered to the

Eucharist. Accordingly, our pastoral practice should reflect a more unitary understanding of the

process of Christian initiation.xl

In the modern day and age, the exceptional practices of Confirmation also shed light on

the true identity of Confirmation as a sacrament. All non-baptized children who have reached


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the age of discretion are treated as adults as far as Baptism is concerned,xli

meaning that they are

enrolled in the catechumenate and are confirmed at their Baptism, usually during the Easter

Vigil.xlii

The fact that non-baptized children over 7 years of age are treated as adults is a striking

contrast to the model of Confirmation as a sacrament of maturation among adolescents who

would seemingly be something less than an adult prior to Confirmation. Additionally, persons

with mental disorders and developmental disabilities remain eligible for the sacrament of

Confirmation, further reinforcing the case against the need for intellectual maturity as a pre-

requisite.xliii Furthermore, according to canon law, a priest can still confirm anyone in danger of

death, including infantsxlivsuggesting that the essential aspect of Confirmation is something

more significant than maturation, be it human or spiritual. One final thing worth noting is how

the current Rite of Confirmation foresees the possibility that children celebrating the sacrament

of Confirmation may not have previously received their First Holy Communion: If the

candidates for confirmation are children who have not received the Eucharist and are not

admitted to their first communion at this liturgical celebration or if there are other special

circumstances, confirmation should be celebrated outside Mass.xlv

What conclusions can be derived from all of this? As Bohen observes, some see

Confirmation as the sacrament of maturity as the crown of catechetical formation, and as an

initiation into adult life. According to Bohens assessment, it is primarily the desire for

catechetical formation as preparation for the sacrament that favors a later age.xlvi

While the

arguments may look convincing when the primary concern of the sacrament is maturity in a

physical or intellectual sense this end is not essential to Confirmation, nor even of primary

importance.xlvii

To understand Confirmation as a rite of passage into physical and intellectual

maturation simultaneously linked with a kind of spiritual maturation is a horrible

misrepresentation of the spiritual life and a gross undervaluation of Gods grace. Perhaps a more

accurate analogy to physical maturation during adolescence is what happens at the age of reason,

when the soul becomes capable of moral actions. Like the bodys newfound ability to procreate

after puberty, the soul of a child after having reached the age of reason is now capable of being a


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moral example to others, a spiritual father even to far older individuals than himself who

witness the childs example. Similar to the way puberty continues even after sexual faculties are

developed, so too does the growing capacity of reason continue to provide the child with greater

wisdom and conformity to Christ, even after the age of discretion begins. The great danger of

using the analogy of physical maturation as a starting point is the tendency to project very

meaningful physical realities into the spiritual dimension in ways that undervalue or misinterpret

the true spiritual reality of what is taking place. No intellectual, physical, or even psychological

developments could ever accurately measure spiritual maturity.

As to the matter of Confirmation as a catechetical incentive, Bohen writes, It hardly

seems justifiable to hold back one of Gods saving sacraments as a kind of bribe, depriving the

children of the grace of the sacrament because of a possible lack on the part of the parents.xlviii

Catechetics begins in the home; it is a fundamental responsibility of the parents to pass on the

Faith to their children. Additionally, the dynamic of that catechesis ought not to be minimalist or

begrudging, but enlivened with a true sense of intimacy. If catechetics is employed well, then

there is no need for sacramental incentive to reinforce a further study of the Faith, nor would it

feel demanding. Either way, the true sense of the sacrament as a gift of the Holy Spirit is

utterly lost when it becomes some kind of reward for an individuals religious efforts or a kind of

spiritual graduation ceremony. Disassociating Confirmation from the completion of catechetical

training would likely be very effective in remedying much of the confusion currently

surrounding the true meaning of the sacrament.

The USCCB is very helpful when it reiterates a most basic and essential truth about the

sacrament: Through Confirmation one receives the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit that

was given in Baptism;xlix and quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it later remarks:

The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal

grace.l What exactly does this mean? Perhaps the exact meaning ought to be at least

somewhat elusive. It certainly does not mean that the unconfirmed Catholic has only a fragment


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of the Holy Spirit. In the state of grace, every baptized Catholic experiences the extraordinary

grace of the Divine Indwelling Trinity, whole and entire. So whats missing?

Cunningham provides a remarkable insight when he writes, Baptism and confirmation

can only be stood in relation to each other.li

He describes them like two sources of light which

illuminate the same landscape.lii Theres Easter and then theres Pentecost. Theres Rebirth in

Christ and then theres Life in the Spirit. Theres the experience of being saved from sin and

then theres the obligation to spread the gospel. Are any of these things really independent of the

other? In their truest simplicity, no, they are not. In a similar way, the meaning of Confirmation

can never be emancipated from the meaning of Baptism. Its fullness and completion is

precisely realized in the dynamism of the Christian life which lies ahead. It is a realization of the

true purpose of Baptism: not a stagnant character by which a man is redeemed, but a living

character which has an external orientation: Through the sacrament of Confirmation, they are

bound more perfectly to the Church; they are endowed with special strength of the Holy Spirit,

and are thus more strictly obliged, as true witnesses of Christ, to spread and defend the faith by

word and deed.liii Thus, by their Confirmation, the faithful are called out of the upper room, not

into a new life, but into the consummation of the new life they have already received from

Christ: The effect of the sacrament is that the Holy Spirit is given for strength, as he was given

to the apostles on the day of Pentecost, in order that Christians may courageously confess the

name of Christ.liv

This grace of the sacrament of Confirmation is one which most certainly can be enacted

in the life of a seven year-old child. Perhaps the immensity of the gift will not overwhelm him or

even cause him to pause very long to reflect upon it initially, but ought that to be the standard by

which the sacrament is administered? Bohen puts it aptly, If every other consideration indicates

that the sacrament of confirmation should be given at about the age of reason, is it just to deprive

the child of the sacrament at the proper age solely to impress him? He may be more mature in

reasoning power at a later age, but will he be as receptive as at the dawn of reason?lv How

beautiful it is to see a child receive first Holy Communion! He receives Christs Body and


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Blood with such an innocent faith! Why then wait until the Eleventh Grade to provide that child

with the graces he needs to persevere and develop in that Faith? It is little wonder why

unconfirmed Eleventh Graders are so hard to keep in the pews!

Thus Bohen concludes with three reasons for having Confirmation at the age of reason:

first, out of obedience to the directions in Canon Law; second, out of conformity with the true

nature of the sacrament as a completion of baptism; and third, to satisfy the need of the child for

the gift of the Spirit at the beginning of his period of serious religious instruction. lvi Bohen also

adds that if there remains any subsequent need for a kind of religious ceremony of commitment

apart from the sacrament throughout the high school years, it can be performed just as well

outside the sacrament without usurping the sacrament for its own ends:lvii

If the goal a

catechesis which corresponds both to the truth of the Christian faith and tradition and to the

spiritual needs of the childwill be achieved by means of a revolution, then that revolution will

be eminently worthwhile.lviii

iReceive the Gift: the Age of Confirmation (Washington, D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic

Bishops, 2004), 1.iiCode of Canon Law (Codex Juris Canonici),Latin-English ed. (Washington, D.C.: Canon Law Society of

America, 1983), c. 891.iii

Joseph Fiorenza, USCCB - Canon 891 - Age for Confirmation, United States Conference of Catholic

Bishops, http://www.usccb.org/norms/891.htm (accessed May 6, 2011).ivReceive the Gift, 3.

vIbid., 4.

vi Ibid., 4-5.vii CIC, c. 914.viii

Congregation for Divine Worship,Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (Washington, DC: USCCB,

1988).ix

Receive the Gift, 7-8.xCatechism of the Catholic Church (New York: Doubleday, 1995), no. 1233.

xiRCIA, no. 243.

xiiReceive the Gift, 8-9.

xiii Ibid., 9-10.xiv

Ibid., 10.xv

Ibid., 11.xvi

Ibid.xvii

Ibid.xviii

Ibid., 12.xix

Ibid.xx

Ibid., 13.xxi RCIA, no. 243.


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xxiiCCC, no. 1308.

xxiiiReceive the Gift, 13-14.

xxivIbid., 14.

xxvJoseph Cunningham, Confirmation: Pastoral concerns (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press,

1973), 47.xxvi

Marian Bohen, The Mystery of Confirmation, a Theology of the Sacrament(New York: Herder andHerder, 1963), 145.xxvii

CIC, c. 786.xxviii

Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXVII (1935), 11-12, tr. Lincoln T. Bouscaren, in The Canon Law Digest,

Vol. II: 1933-1942 (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1943), p. 188.xxix

Bohen, 34.xxx

Acta Apostolicae Sedis , p. 187.xxxi

Bohen, 141.xxxii

Paul Turner, Benedict XVI and the sequence of the sacraments of initiation. Paul Turner.

www.paulturner.org/pdf_files/initiation_sacraments.pdf (accessed May 6, 2011).xxxiii

Ibid.xxxiv

Ibid.xxxv

Ibid.xxxvi

Ibid.xxxvii Ibid.xxxviii

Ibid.xxxix

Second Vatican Council, Apostolic constitution On the Rite of Confirmation (Divinae consortium

naturae), AAS 63 (1971), 657. Quoted in CCC, no. 1212.xl

Benedict XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Vatican: the Holy See.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-

xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html (accessed May 6, 2011), 17.xli

CIC, c. 8521.xlii

Receive the Gift, 15.xliii

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with

Persons with Disabilities (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1995), no. 16.xliv

CIC, c. 883, 3xlv

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,Study ed. Ottawa, Ont.: Conference's Publication Service, 1974).

xlvi Bohen, 141.xlvii

Ibid., 142.xlviii

Ibid.xlix

Receive the Gift, 5.lCCC, no. 1285.

liCunningham, 47.

liiIbid.

liiiSecond Vatican Council,Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), in J. Neuner and J.

Dupuis, eds., The Christian Faith, 7th ed. (New York: Alba House, 2001), no. 1439.liv

Council of Florence (1439), Decree for the Armenians, The Christian Faith, no. 1418 (DS 1319).lv

Bohen, 143.lvi

Ibid., 141-2.lvii

Ibid., 143.lviii

Ibid., 147.

reason, maturity, and initiation

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