For on him the Father, God, has set his seal. (John 6:27) At Confirmation, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and confirm our baptismal promises. Greater awareness of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conferred through the anointing of chrism oil and the laying on of hands by the Bishop.
Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds. (CCC 1316)
Through the Sacrament of Confirmation we renew our baptismal promises and commit to living a life of maturity in the Christian faith. As we read in the Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church) from the Second Vatican Council:
Bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation, [the baptized] are endowed by the Holy Spirit with special strength; hence they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith both by word and by deed as true witnesses of Christ. (no. 11)
2026-2027 Confirmation Preparation Program
Registration for Sacred Heart and Saint Monica's 2026–2027 Confirmation Preparation Program is now open! The deadline for registration is September 11!
Click here for the 2026-2027 Saint Monica and Sacred Heart Confirmation Registration Form. If you have any questions about Confirmation or registration, please email them to Kelsey Heintz and Sharon Phillips, the Confirmation Coordinators for St. Monica Parish and Sacred Heart Parish, at confirmation@sacredheart.org.
Attendance Requirement: This Confirmation Program is a retreat and small group-based program. Due to how few meetings we have in the year, your child must be present at all retreats and may only miss one small group meeting. Please ensure that all of the 2026-2027 program year dates are in marked in your calendar:
- Mandatory Parent Info meeting: Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 10:00 AM in the Moore Theater at Sacred Heart
- Retreat #1: Sunday, September 13, 2026
- *Small Group #1: October 3–10, 2026
- Retreat #2: Sunday November 1, 2026
- *Small Group #2: December 5–12, 2026
- Retreat #3: Sunday January 24, 2027
- *Small Group #3: February 27–March 6, 2027
- Retreat #4: Saturday, April 10–Sunday, April 11, 2027 (Overnight)
- Confirmation Rehearsal: Day before Confirmation, TBD May 2027
- Confirmation Mass: TBD May 2027
*The small group meetings will be planned for some time within the week listed above. Small groups are 1–2 hour meetings with their small group leader, these meetings are planned with the whole group to pick a day that works best for everyone.
Who is this program for? This Confirmation program is designed for those who are in 7th–12th grade who need to receive Confirmation only. If you are an adult, or if your child needs to receive Baptism or First Communion as well as Confirmation, please contact the parish about our OCIA/OCIC programs. If your child is in 6th grade, the prerequisite year for Confirmation, please register them for Emmaus Youth Group instead of this program.
Scriptural Foundation for Confirmation
In the Acts of the Apostles we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. While baptism is the sacrament of new life, confirmation gives birth to that life. Baptism initiates us into the Church and names us as children of God, whereas confirmation calls us forth as God’s children and unites us more fully to the active messianic mission of Christ in the world.
After receiving the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles went out and confirmed others, showing Confirmation to be an individual and separate sacrament: Peter and John at Samaria (Acts 8:5-6, 14-17) and Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:5-6). Also the Holy Spirit came down on Jews and Gentiles alike in Caesarea, prior to their baptisms. Recognizing this as a Confirmation by the Holy Spirit, Peter commanded that they be baptized (cf. Acts 10:47).
An overview of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church and our parish's offerings of these Sacraments can be accessed via our Sacraments page.
