Confirmation preparation is a two-year program at St. Brendan. Families must enroll in either family faith formation or St. Brendan School for one year before beginning sacrament preparation. Confirmation normally occurs in the spring of a child’s 8th grade year.
Important Dates & Information:
Confirmation Date: Friday, April 26, 2024, 4 pm and 7:30 pm
Confirmation Practice (please attend ONE): Sunday, April 21, 2024, 12 noon and 6:45 pm
Preparation Resource: St Brendan uses the Zeal box resource from Faith and Family Life Catholic Ministries. This involves 8 at-home lessons: 7 family meetings at 1 sponsor meeting. These are to be completed at home once or twice each month from October through March. Parents must also submit a family-follow after each at-home meeting.
Confirmation Retreat:
Please follow the steps below to register for the weekend Confirmation retreat at Damascus on November 17-19. The retreat begins at 6pm on Friday, and concludes with Mass on Sunday at 10:30 am and pickup at 11:30 am. The cost of the retreat is $130.
You will need to make sure that your child who is attending the retreat is added to your account.
If you just added their child, you will be asked if you would like to register them. Hit “yes”, and it will take you to a page with all of our events for which you can register.
If your child is already on your account, press the “Register” button next to your child’s name on our home page.
In either case, you should see red text that says “I belong to a group that has reserved space.” Click that and enter the code BRENDANHILLIARD23, which will allow you to register into your group.
If a link is provided, you will just need to add your child to your account, if they have not already, and then click the link to register into your group.
Service Hours: Confirmation is the final Sacrament of Initiation into the Church and so we ask students preparing for this Sacrament to begin thinking about how they can best give of their time, talents, & treasure to support the Church and their community. We ask students to complete at least 6 hours prior to Confirmation. Students can begin counting hours after their Grade 7 year is over. We will send opportunities for service at St. Brendan as they arise.
Sponsor:Students will be asked to prayerfully select their sponsor early so they can accompany them throughout their entire year of preparation! This process is outlined in the Zeal box.
Letter of Good Standing: this is required for all Sponsors who aren’t parishioners at St. Brendan. These letters can be e-mailed to sacraments@stbrendans.net, dropped off, or mailed to the parish office in an envelope marked Attn: Maggie Agra. Due by December 1, 2023.
Letter of Support: we invite sponsors to write the teen they are sponsoring a letter of congrats, support and/or encouragement for taking this big step in their Catholic journey of faith. These letters can be e-mailed to sacraments@stbrendans.net, dropped off, or mailed to the parish office in an envelope marked Attn: Maggie Agra. Due by April 1, 2024.
Confirmation Name: Students will be asked to prayerfully choose the name of a Saint to honor for their Confirmation name. This name does not replace their name given at birth, but they are Confirmed in the Catholic Church with this name as a way to symbolize this important step in their journey of faith as a Catholic adult. Students may also choose to re-affirm their name given at Baptism.
Confession: The Church asks that all Candidates receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to their Confirmation. This sets them up to be in a state of grace when Confirmation is celebrated.
Dress Code: The most important thing to remember is that we ask everyone (including sponsors) to dress appropriately for this Sacred Liturgy! Also, please dispose of any gum prior to entering the Church.
Ladies: please wear modest dresses or dress pants/shirt (of any color) along with dress shoes. Cap sleeves or tank top width straps are acceptable, but please NO spaghetti straps or strapless dresses unless a covering of some sort is used.
Men: please wear a suit jacket & pants along with a dress shirt, tie & dress shoes. The suit jacket is optional, but please wear a tie. The apparel can be any color (within reason).
Materials Fee: St Brendan charges a $50 materials fee to cover the costs of administrative time and gifts relating to preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
