Richard's Confirmation

This past Saturday Richard received the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Jerome's Church in Ilo. He has been preparing for it for several months. They told us it was 7-8 weeks but ended up being 10. It was an interesting journey for sure. There were 2 hours sesssions every Saturday night from 7-9. In the end there were 8 adults who were Confirmed. It was crazy for me coming from a different system in the USA of scheduling.

We didn't even have the date confirmed until the Wednedsday before. They kept telling us one more week, one more week. Then in the end......the bishop didn't even come. He delegated the priest to do it, Fr. Wilder. Richard proclaimed the first reading, read a petition and brought forward a candle during offertory.

However, overall it's been a good experience for him. He really started the whole process because it was a requirement to getting married in the Church, but in the end it has been great for both of us. We have been going to church regularly, reading the Bible and having good conversations. The priest has good homilies and it seems like a good parish. One step at a time, but it does take time to get used to how the "planning" is done. Change, change, change...

We aren't done yet though. We still have 4 weeks of Pre-marital sessions. So we'll see how that goes.

I also wanted to add that, some things don't change. All those years of Confirmation prep that I did came in handy. The night before the Confirmation we had the rehearsal in the Church. It was comical. They had made a large booklet for each of the confirmandi with the entire ceremony and words for them. Well, this seems like a great gesture and idea. However, it was a mess. Whoever put it together: couldn't type, didn't know anything about the Confirmation ceremony and on and on. Luckily Richard read his reading in the Bible as well so he noted all the mistakes in the text. Then I noticed how out of place the entire booklet was because the men (volunteers) who had been teaching the course and were conducting the rehearsal only know what comes out of a book. They completely forgot the 2nd reading, because it was after the petitions! So they almost didn't have anyone ready to read it. The poor priest went to proclaim the Gospel from the booklet and gave up and read it from the Lectionary (I can't save everyone).

Anyway, I was also the only sponsor at the rehearsal and the only one who really knew what was going on in a Confirmation ceremony. So it the funny part was that I was sitting with the group and so I ended up directing everyone where to go when and what to do. They were completely lost. Most of them don't go to Mass on a regular basis as it is. So, I was really pleased that regardless of the country or the language I can still boss people around and make for a good celebration! Richard really doesn't know this side of me. He's learning! Bit by bit. He should be very afraid I'm sure.