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Adult Confirmation Non-parish

Adult Confirmation

for those who are not members of Our Lady of Refuge

 

The challenge:
There can be many reasons why some Catholic adults have never received the Sacrament of Confirmation, but regardless of those reasons, we find many more of them coming back to the Church wanting to prepare for and receive this Sacrament.


Like all the Sacraments, formation and preparation begins at the Parish.  It is the responsibility of every pastor and parish to provide the necessary formation and Sacrament preparation for those who seek it, so you first call should be with your home parish.  This is important, so let me say it again, contact your home parish before you contact us here at Our Lady of Refuge.

 

Unfortunately, many parishes do not have the personnel, programs, or processes in place to accommodate those seeking Adult Confirmation.  Sometimes also, while a parish may have a process in place for Adult Confirmation, the scheduling of their sessions may conflict with work, school, or other personal commitments.  This has lead to people "shopping around" for an Adult Confirmation process that is suitable to their needs.

 

The Regional Option:

To help with this challenge, some of the Regional Offices for the Archdiocese have partnered with certain people and parishes to provide Adult Confirmation preparation.  In the San Pedro Region, this is usually offered in the Fall and the Spring, both English and Spanish.  To find out more about these opportunities please go to the regional web site to learn more: http://www.la-archdiocese.org/org/ore/sppr/Pages/default.aspx


The fact remains, however, that Confirmation preparation remains the responsibility of the Pastor and the parish, so for those looking to attend one of these Regional preparation processes, they must still first meet with their pastor to review their needs and receive a formal letter of permission to attend.


The Parish option:
Here at Our Lady of Refuge we have a process in place to accommodate those adults seeking Confirmation. While ours is a program intended to serve the needs of our own parishioners and their families, we do recognize that many people from outside our parish are in need of Confirmation preparation, either because they cannot find this at their own parishes or from their regional offices. Therefore we are able to provide you with the following options:


1) If you have no current parish affiliation, we invite you to register and join our parish community. As an official member of the OLR community, you can avail yourself of all the programs we have to offer, including our Adult Sacrament preparation program and our Expedited Adult Confirmation preparation process.


2) If you are a member of another parish, we are happy to accept you into our Adult Confirmation preparation process provided that:

 

  • You meet all the requirements for our Accelerated Confirmation preparation process
  • You receive permission from your pastor and parish formation team to attend our formation program.
  • You coordinate with your parish formation or sacramental preparation team to receive your Confirmation at your parish along with all those others receiving Confirmation when the bishop is scheduled to come to your parish.

 

All these requirements and permissions much be met prior to the start of our preparation sessions. Confirmation candidates must manage their own permissions and paperwork as our parish does not have the resources to coordinate with other parishes nor with the bishop's offices on your behalf. Upon successful completion of the Confirmation Preparation Process you will be provided with a letter signifying that you have met all the requirements listed and completed our formation program.


Coordination and cooperation with other parishes
As noted above, Sacramental preparation is the responsibility of every pastor and parish. If your parish does not have an Adult Confirmation process, we are happy to have your pastor, or others from your parish formation team and sacramental preparation team participate with us in preparing their candidates for Confirmation. We eagerly accept their engagement in the process and their participation in the sessions. We are also open to formally partnering with other parishes to accommodate this need so that those adults seeking Confirmation can receive the formation they need while still participating fully in the Sacramental life of their own parishes.


Further, we are happy to share our knowledge and experience to help other parishes develop their own Adult Confirmation preparation process, as well as enhancing their overall Adult Faith Formation, Sacramental preparation, and RCIA processes. We have developed methods which can be followed by any parish, even those with limited resources, which can accommodate the pastoral and sacramental needs of the adult members of your community.

 

If you are interested... contact us!

If you are interested in our Adult Confirmation program, the first step is to contact us!  Call or text to 562-618-8986 so we can arrange to discuss your needs further.