The authority and responsibility of the parish priest, or other minister, is set out in Canon B27: Age of Confirmation and Admission to Holy Communion.
With the agreement of the area bishop (who should be consulted beforehand), children who have reached the age of seven years may be prepared and presented for confirmation, provided that they will thereafter receive holy communion with their families (whether domestic or institutional) and are instructed in the Christian faith according to some definite plan.
Confirmation service
This may take place within the context of holy communion (as requested by a majority of the Diocesan Synod in 1971) or not, according to the discretion of the incumbent. The confirming bishop should be informed well in advance. It is desirable that wherever possible, children should receive communion with their parents and godparents.
Each bishop issues a sheet of instructions concerning his administration of confirmation. This should be studied and the candidates rehearsed accordingly.
A confirmation return sheet should be filled in, listing all candidates for confirmation and countersigned by the confirming bishop at the service. The sheet should then be returned to the area bishop’s office.
School confirmations
When confirmation candidates are being prepared and confirmed at school, the parish priests of the children concerned should be informed. Co-operation between the school chaplain and the local incumbent is particularly important where the pupils concerned are day pupils.
Communion before confirmation
The General Synod and the House of Bishops have debated the question of children receiving holy communion before confirmation over many years. In the General Synod of November 1996 the House of Bishops agreed a position and a set of guidelines were issued.
The bishops and senior staff of this Diocese believe that these guidelines represent both good pastoral practice and a sound theological position and warmly commend them for consideration in the parishes.
Individual parishes wishing to admit children to communion before confirmation must seek the agreement of their area bishop. He will want to satisfy himself that the application has the full support of the incumbent and the PCC. Any application will need to show evidence of careful consideration of the issues and include a clear commitment to a serious and continuing catechetical education for the children, leading to confirmation in due course.
Procedures to help parishes have been produced by the Diocesan Children’s Adviser and agreed with the senior staff. These can be obtained, along with a churches’ pack on children and communion, from Jenny Hyson, the Children’s Adviser at Diocesan Church House.
Note that no baptised person, child or adult, who has been admitted to holy communion should be deprived of it when, for example, visiting another parish or after moving to a new area.
