It might surprise you to know that I was asked to teach a Confirmation two class (the second year of our two-year Confirmation program this year). It meets during the religious education year on Sunday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. My class comprises 15 teenagers who will be confirmed this April by Hartford Auxiliary Bishop Christie Macaluso.
This past Sunday evening the Confirmands were to present an oral report (and hand in a written report) on the saint which the selected for their Confirmation name. They presented reports on St. Patrick, St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Clare, St. Brendan and St. Longinus to name a few.
The report required answers to three questions: (1) the saint’s biographical information—feast day, what he or she is known for, dates of birth and death, etc., (2) what about this saint that connects to your life, and (3) how might this saint’s life direct you closer to God? I was very impressed with what each student had to say, and I don’t mean with regards to the biographical information—that’s just a matter of Googling, but rather the latter two questions brought about an amazing release of personal information. I was more than amazed to hear how much these individuals knew about their faith (we have a very thorough religious education program with great teachers and our parish families truly are examples of lived faith to these teens). Our religious education program certainly is much deeper than the one I had in Confirmation!) but also what amazed me was how free each student was to talk about their faith—there was very little fear when they acknowledged Christ and their hope for heaven, even amid a life that is not easy to live as a Christian in our culture, and in lives that are certainly not perfect.
As we hear about the selfishness of youth today, as many report on the technology generation that can’t relate in public, or about an age group that has no need for faith or God, I was very impressed and enlightened. There is great hope out there for humanity!