Bad Latin Theologoumena on Confirmation and Pentecost

Receiving the Fullness of Pentecost | Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy OFM Cap.: When we pray today for a new Pentecost, we are petitioning Jesus to pour out his Spirit upon all of us so that we might receive, in all its fullness, the same . . ..https://t.co/HL2a7WQE9w pic.twitter.com/0Qhgxu8Q6w

— The Catholic Thing (@catholicthing) October 29, 2023

Baptism with Water and Baptism in the Holy Spirit Together

Not baptism by water alone.

Do you realize what the Church gave you when you were baptized and chrismated with the oil?
Empowered By The Holy Spirit https://t.co/LeWGYkpiny via @FrBarnabas

— Fr. Barnabas Powell (@FrBarnabas) October 19, 2020

An Initiation Which Should Have Been Completed When They Were Much Younger

Friends, it was a privilege for me today to preside at the sacrament of Confirmation, which took place at the Santa Clara Parish in Oxnard. Join me in praying for an increase in faith, hope, and charity for these fully initiated Catholics! pic.twitter.com/zDkH9UTsp1

— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) August 8, 2020

Alas, what is the pastoral solution?

The problems with moving Confirmation to before first Communion

To just abide in the status quo is intolerable, especially if the rupture between Baptism and "Confirmation" has consequences on the spiritual life. (Latins may pretend that it doesn't but it's an ad hoc argument for a problem they wish to avoid.)

(And if the monoepiscopate is not of divine origin but a development of human positive law, the Latin insistence upon having the bishop be the minister of Confirmation could be readily resolved.)

What Are the Consequences of This Bad Latin Pastoral Practice?

Namely, delaying Confirmation until after First Communion...

What are the consequences of administering Confirmation to non-adults after they have already received "First Eucharist" years earlier and have been receiving Eucharist regularly up to the point of receiving Confirmation? There were bishops who were aware of this problem and raised the alarm in the 19th ce according to Maxwell Johnson, but it seems little has been done to address this problem.

First, it does seem incongruous for Christians who have not completed Christian initiation to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit if they have already been receiving the Holy Spirit through the Eucharist (assuming that it is correct to characterize one of the effects of the sacrament thusly). Moreover, that also assumes that it is possible for those who have not received Confirmation to nonetheless derive the full benefit from receiving from the Eucharist. But is there any evidence that God "compensates" for what is lacking in the Catholic Christian who has not been fully initiated, so that the Eucharist is fully efficacious for the Christian? Or is the reception of Eucharist for a Catholic Christian who has not been fully-initiated fruitless, as it would be for someone in the state of mortal sin or a non-believer? Is it the case that the Church does not actually have the authority to admit a Christian who has not been fully initiated to (the reception of) the Eucharist? That is to say, that not only is it sacramentally not possible for someone not fully initiated to receive the Eucharist, but there is actually a Divine Law that only one who has been fully initiated cannot receive the Eucharist? Or is this merely a Ecclesial Law (of Apostolic origin)? Or if a Divine Law, is it possible for it to be mitigated or abrogated by the (actions of the) Church? Does God Himself dispense from the necessity of the first two sacraments of initiation to make the reception of the Eucharist fruitful? (If He does, has he revealed this to the Church?)

Let's bring up another concrete example from Latin pastoral practice: Would a dying non-Christian be allowed to receive the Eucharist by a Latin priest before being baptized? I don't think so; if there is only sufficient time for one sacrament, I would think that the preference would be given to Baptism rather than the Eucharist. Couldn't the dying non-Christian just be given the Eucharist if it simply conveys the same grace (e.g. life in Christ) of Baptism? (That they convey the same grace but in different modalities or instantiations or moments of salvation history is is an assumption with which Latin theologians would disagree.) It would seem from Latin pastoral practice that no, a dying non-Christian would not receive the Eucharist unless he had been first baptized. If that is the case, then why should Confirmation be skipped over, except because of Latin custom? The question is whether this is legitimte or not.

Fr Nicholas Gregoris on "Synodality"

CWR Dispatch: Synodality, “New Pentecost”, and more: Reflections on the Synod’s Final Document by Fr Nicholas Gregoris
It appears the Final Document has re-defined “synodality” to level the playing field in such a way that the authority of the Synod Fathers may in the future be compromised by the protestations of non-bishops.

What surprised me about the treatment of the Sacrament of Confirmation is that none of the Synod Fathers, to my knowledge, mentioned the idea of adopting in the Western Churches the practice of the Eastern Churches, which celebrate the Rites of Christian Initiation as one single event, whereby the infant who is baptized is likewise confirmed and communicated in the same ceremony. Thus, the ancient order of the sacraments is preserved, according to which the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion is in fact the crowning event of the rites of initiation.

Choosing Christ

Was reading some books about the history of Confirmation in the Patriarchate of Rome. Not it would follow that if children were to not be given the sacraments of initiation as infants, that the number of Catholics who fall-away later in life would decrease, as the total number of Catholics would decrease, and the only neophytes would be of adult age, or close to it.

Still, if it is necessary, as Baptists claim(?), for people to make a deliberate decision to become Christian before being initiated, then is there a case to be made, in light of the number of Catholics who fall away from the practice of the faith in their adolescence and young adulthood, that Catholics (and Apostolic Christians in general) should refrain from initiating their children until they've attained the age of reason or after? Or are we merely seeing the effects of generations of poorly-catechized Catholics who've never been properly introduced to the practice of prayer and Christian spirituality and made them their own just doing with their own children what their parents did?

Eastern Christian Books: Nicholas Denysenko on Theophany and Chrismation

Eastern Christian Books: Nicholas Denysenko on Theophany and Chrismation

μωραίνει Κύριος ον βούλεται απολέσαι

German bishop wants to make 16 years the minimum age for the reception of Confirmation: German Bishop Suspends Confirmation For Four Years

Confirmation in the OF

Accipe Signaculum Doni Spiritus Sancti by Rev. John Grant
On the Sacrament of Confirmation and the New Translation of the Ritual

Another Essay on Confirmation

Crisis: Why Lowering the Age of Confirmation Makes Sense by Jared M. Silvey

Never Thought I'd Post Something from Commonweal

With approval... there may be something worthy from time to time but it's just not worth the effort to scout it out. Slap Them Sooner: Confirmation & First Communion, Together by Rita Ferrone (via Pray Tell)

Denver Finally Makes the Switch

CNA: Denver's Archbishop Aquila restores sacraments to original order

Discussion of Bishop Larry Silva's decision on confirmation at Pray Tell: Bishop Restores the Traditional Order of the Sacraments of Initiation

The Start of a Trend?

Honolulu: Bishop plans to return sacraments of initiation to “their proper order”

Antiphon: J. J. Jorgensen, “Arguments for Reintegrating the Sacraments of Christian Initiation for Latin-rite Children”

Bishop Aquila on Confirmation

"Send Forth Your Spirit"
On the Sacrament of Confirmation By Bishop Samuel J. Aquila
2011 Hillenbrand Lecture: The Sacrament of Confirmation - EWTN archive
Restoring the source and summit of faith
Denver archbishop advocates reordering of confirmation to liturgical commission

Archimandrite Boniface Luykx on the Sacrament of Confirmation

Originally published in HPR - On Confirmation