Confirmation preparation 2025 will run from February - May. Registration will be available starting in the Fall - along with parent information meetings about our program.
Generally our sessions will be once a week and are designed for parents or sponsors to come along with candidates for confirmation to be their discussion partners.
Confirmation Mass will be on a Wednesday in May. Exact date is TBD
Confirmation preparation will be a mix of independent study with the sponsor/candidate pair and large in person sessions where each candidate will bring their own conversation partner (either a parent or a sponsor). Sessions are lead by Cathleen and talks given by different people in our parish including Fr. Brad, Fr. Val, and CORE team members. See below for more details about each component of our program.
Program Components
Large group sessions are for candidates as well as a conversation partner (parent or sponsor).
The schedule for these sessions is currently under construction. Depending on parish schedule and youth minister schedule these sessions will be offered on Sunday afternoons or Monday evenings. If those days of the week do not work for you: please contact Cathleen ahead of registration: so that we can determine if we are able to accommodate your schedule this year or not.
I will be emailing out 7 “take home sessions” for completion at home with a sponsor.
- 20 – 30 min. of video content
- 30 – 40 min. of discussion time
You will find whatever time works for you and your sponsor to watch the videos and discuss. Once you and your sponsor have registered I will email both of you with the info – and you can start on these take home sessions as soon as you want.
The goal of a service component of our confirmation preparation program is 3 fold:
- Get involved in our parish community and experience a part of what being a part of a living Catholic community feels like.
- Engage with service and outreach in order to experience the beauty of our Catholic Social Teaching and Jesus’ mandate to love our neighbors and serve those on the margins.
- Grow in community with their peer group of faith through action in hopes that friendships formed in faith and service of others will sustain us throughout our lifetime.
Service opportunities include:
- Holy Thursday: all candidates for confirmation are expected to attend and help with the candlelit path
- Holy Saturday: help passing out and collecting candles
- 2025 service opportunities are TBD
All middle and high schoolers preparing for confirmation are expected to participate in a retreat experience.
We offer 3 retreat options throughout the year for both middle and high school groups – and you are welcome to come on the fall retreat options if those work better for your schedule than the spring ones:
The goal of our retreat component:
- To retreat from the structures and pulls of daily life, in order to more clearly hear the voice of our Lord in our lives.
- To experience and engage with our faith on a practical and emotional level and not just an intellectual level.
- To build peer relationships based in faith.
- To reflect on how the Lord has already touched each of our lives in different ways.
- To discern what areas of our life the Lord is callings us to something new.
Middle School Retreat Options:
- MS Fall Retreat: TBD
- Middle School Encounter: Spring
- MS Spring Retreat: TBD
High School Retreat Options:
- HS Catholic Youth Convention: Nov. 2nd
- HS Fall Retreat: Nov.
- HS Spring Retreat: March:
Helpful Resources
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
This information comes directly from the Seattle Archdiocese Website:
CF 18. The sponsor must be a fully initiated Catholic, having been baptized, confirmed, and received their first Eucharist, who leads a life in keeping with the role to be taken on (see CIC, c. 874 §1, 1º-5º). The full initiation of the sponsor is to be verified.
CF 19. The sponsor is to be at least 16 years of age and sufficiently mature for the role.
CF 20. The sponsor must be free to celebrate the sacraments and not bound by any canonical penalty.
CF 21. A parent or legal guardian may not serve as sponsor for his/her child.
It is generally not advisable for a spouse, fiancée, boyfriend, or girlfriend, to serve as sponsor.
CF 22. If the sponsor is unable to participate in the celebration of confirmation, a proxy may be designated.
The proxy must fulfill the same requirements as the sponsor. The absence of the sponsor during the celebration of confirmation does not invalidate the sacrament (see CIC, c. 892).
If your sponsor fulfills all of the above requirements and is not a member of Holy Family Kirkland Parish: please have them contact their parish of record (parish where they were baptized) to get their sacramental record sent to Holy Family Kirkland: Attn: Cathleen Ito. 7045 120th AVE NE, Kirkland WA 98033
Confirm Registration Form: Click HERE
Canon law says people can get Confirmed at the Age of Discretion, which is known as 7. It also allows Bishops in each country to decide at what age they want to Confirm. And then in the US and Canada, each Bishop can set the age he considers best for his diocese. The archdiocese of Seattle has recently allowed parishes to start the migration from age 16 down to 7th grade.
We require that candidates be in 7th grade to start our confirmation preparation program.
I recognize that we will most likely have some high school candidates for preparation. Once registration has happened and we have a better idea of the age split there is a possibility that some of the older high school kids will do a more age appropriate group study. We have to see how the age split of registration is before we make this determination. We will do our best to prepare our seniors for a confirmation date this coming spring before they go off to college!
The single most important thing you can do for yourself in this process is to be open to it. Some of us come to Confirmation on our own, many at the urging of our parents or because it is what we think we are supposed to do as young Catholic. However you get here, know that if you enter the process with an open mind and HEART, that God will do amazing things for and with you in the months to come. Make a plan for a consistent time in your week to dive into the sessions, and be open to the word of God through scripture. Trust your parents, your parish, your sponsor and God. This is part of your faith journey.
There is always something more for you to learn and you learn and experience differently at every age. The way that you will learn and discuss your faith today will be considerably different from the way you did at the age of 6, or 10 or even just last year. You will encounter new topics, regardless of how much you know. Every time we come back to the same information, we are different people and have the opportunity to engage with it in new ways. The more important thing to remember is that Confirmation is all about the transformation of the heart, not stockpiling facts.
It’s up to you! In the Bible, we see God gives people a new name when they get a new mission. (Jacob gets named Israel and is tasked with being the leader of God’s people. When Saul has his encounter with the Lord and turns away from prosecuting Christians to leading them, he gets the new name of Paul)
In the same way, your parents gave you a name at Baptism to symbolize your new life in Christ, and at confirmation you can choose a name of a saint that you aspire to have similar faith to. Are you inspired by the charity of St. Theresa of Calcutta, or the Boldness of St. Paul? How about the ingenuity and self control of St. Carlo Acutis? – As Catholics we have a rich traditions of saints that can help us on our faith journey!
If you are still trying to decide, I suggest that you look at the schedule, think about it, talk about it with your parents, and pray about it. I always say that this preparation process is also great for helping those still discerning if they are interested or not. While parents can (and sometimes should) make preparation mandatory, but we encourage reception of the sacrament of Confirmation to be voluntary by the candidate.
If you complete the preparation process and still have misgivings or questions I encourage you to meet with me and we can talk through some of those things – And then if you still are not feeling ready to receive Confirmation, I would support your decision to wait.
If we waited until we were perfect, none of us would ever get Confirmed! God’s love is a gift, we don’t earn it. We have the choice to accept or reject the gift. This is not a graduation from faith, it is a step in the journey! In fact: the graces of Confirmation help us to live out our faith more fully, so feeling unworthy is actually a sign you are totally ready!
You will not be punished or rejected by the Church. You may experience tension at home, but Cathleen and your sponsor will help you talk to your parents about your decision, if you wish. Again, we would love for you to come to the meetings, open yourself to the process and pray for God to show you His will.