Austen Makes His Confirmation

Getting Austen to Confirmation certainly came with a lot of work and probably only 3/4 of the work that really we/he would have had to do if it didn't happen during COVID.

Austen with Papa as his Sponsor

First, we had to switch parishes for the last two years as our parish had Confirmation happening in the 10th grade. We wanted it to happen in the 8th grade like most parishes so we had to switch to a neighboring parish. That meant that we had to switch Peyton the last two years for religious ed too, and Hailey began religious ed there this year as well. 

Even before COVID we had made a decision to keep Confirmation low key meaning just our immediate family and the sponsor. We didn't want to have a big party or invite lots of people to the church. With COVID, we were limited to Austen, the sponsor and us as his parents anyway. Austen chose Papa as his sponsor and Sebastian as his Confirmation name because he was the Patron Saint of Athletes.

After community service, church service, a large review packet, a big test and corrections to that test, papers, a sponsor review packet and lots of extra Zoom meetings in addition to his regular monthly religious ed class, he was finally Confirmed! Honestly, I know it's a big deal to be Confirmed but I don't remember doing half of what was required of Austen (and luckily they were a little more lenient because of COVID) when I made my Confirmation. It's a wonder so many families stop their children from pursuing religious education after First Communion these days. That's up next for Hailey and I'm not sure if we'll switch back to our original parish for that unless they switch to 8th grade Confirmation as Peyton will only have one year there before we have to switch back and she is a candidate for Confirmation (it's a two-year commitment at our current parish). At any rate, one down and two to go!