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Our Lady of Lourdes has supported a large number of candidates this year. Bishop Kieran confirmed 18, in total, on the 5th June 2006 at St John the Baptist. This was certainly the largest group present on the day and seems to be the largest from the Brighton Deanery. We also had enquiries from a number of other students from this year group and they attended some of the course and may go further later on. To start the confirmation process we began with a meeting and presentation given by Father Graham to the candidates and their sponsors and during this meeting we gave out the programme dates and information so that they understood the commitment they were about to make.
The first three meetings were held at Cardinal Newman where 3 prayer groups were developed using the themes Faith, Hope and Love. Candidates were given a prayer card for each session and were asked to reflect on these themes by focusing on readings and the life of a saint or martyr.
After the Christmas period the following 5 sessions examined in detail different sections of the Mass and again linked in different readings, prayer (particularly examining different methods of prayer), saints and martyrs as well as looking at a range of charities. By linking the Mass to the confirmation programme we hoped that the candidates would be able to reflect on the most important elements of their faith and be able to participate in the Eucharist.
Father Graham invited each candidate to help with 2 Eucharistic services and candidates were involved in the ministries of welcome, Children's Liturgy, Offertory and Readings. Many of the candidates participated fully in these activities and a number of candidates helped with areas that they had not tried before and therefore became more confident and more willing to try new things.
Just before their confirmation all the candidates prepared themselves by attending the sacrament of Reconciliation by either seeing Father Graham on one of the sessions or by making an appointment with him.
The confirmation process has been devised this year and seems to be highly successful. We shall be evaluating all the sessions fully and adjusting where necessary for the next set of candidates. Chris Matthews has been liasing with a number of other parishes about their confirmation process and it is hoped that because a number of teachers from Cardinal Newman are now involved in confirmation that a conference can be set up in September which will be for all the parishes to attend to look at how confirmation can be developed and where there can be shared practice and resources. This will be quite an exciting venture and that the liaison between all parishes and the school will encourage more candidates to come forward. It may be that this development may encourage other youth work to take place within our parish and deanery