As catechists, we all wonder whether or not we are getting through to our young people. Sometimes, we can do formal assessments such as giving an exam. More often than not, we can do informal assessments such as the one I did this past Monday evening. I ended my session by asking each of the young people to state ONE THING that they learned that evening during our final Confirmation Intensive. We had spent the evening learning about the 5 elements of the Confirmation Rite:

1. the Presentation of the Candidates
2. the bishop’s homily
3. the renewal of baptismal promises
4. the laying on of hands and anointing with chrism
5. the general intercessions

"I learned that..."

Here is a summary of what the young people said, as best I can recall. I’ve included some explanatory comments of my own in parentheses.

• “I learned that the anointing is permanent.” (we talked about the indelible nature of the anointing)
• “I learned that when we are confirmed, we are supposed to make a good impression on other people.” (we talked about the fragrance in the chrism and how people wear colognes and perfumes to make an impression on others)
• “I learned that making our Confirmation is like signing a declaration of dependence.” (we used the idea of a declaration of dependence to better understand the presentation of the candidates)
• “I learned that we’re supposed to pray for the needs of others.” (one mini-session was on the general intercessions)
• “we wrote letters to the bishop telling him about ourselves.” (the mini-session on the bishop’s homily allowed for the young people to write letters to the bishop telling him why they want to be confirmed and describing their favorites (songs, movies, TV shows, sports, etc.)
• “we had sacred space with Mrs. Signorelli and prayed about our baptism.” (Mary Kay led guided reflections on the renewal of baptismal promises)
• “I learned that we can pass on qualities to someone else by touching them.” (we focused on the laying on of hands prayer and looked at some scriptural examples of laying on of hands)

Most of the young people offered comments such as the above or slight variations thereof. I was pleased that each of them was able to offer some concrete statement of something they learned that evening. In all, the other catechists and I were very satisfied that this confirmation intensive (and all of them, for that matter) went very well and provided the young people with engaging experiences to help them prepare for confirmation. I personall felt as though some powerful connections were made along the way (you can tell when the “lightbulbs” go on!)

There were only a handful of downsides. During one mini-session, one of the groups got pretty giddy and I needed to stop several times to “collect’ them. The good thing was that, we were talking about the fragrance of the chrism and how people wear fragrances to make an impression on others. I was able to point out that their misbehavior at that moment was making an impression on me…one that was not favorable. I used that as an opportunity to tell them that they need to reflect on the kind of impression they are making on others and to use Confirmation as an opportunity to think about how they can make a good impression on others (the Fruits of the Holy Spirit). By the same token, one other class was so well-behaved that I had the opportunity to tell them that they were already making a strong positive impression on me and that they should keep it up. They appeared genuinely pleased.

The other minor distraction was the little candles we gave them during one of the mini-sessions to remind them of their baptism. Of course, those became toys for them to play with the remainder of the evening (they made for great little “hockey pucks!). Once I noticed that happening, I told each group as they settled in, to place their candles on the table in front of them and to sit back.

Next week, we get back to our usual sessions (75 minutes, as opposed to the 2-hour intensives). We all look forward to that. While the intensives are positive, they are very tiring and make for a long evening after a long day. It’ll be nice to get home 45 minutes earlier!