I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the terrible decline in vocations to the Bishophood. Back in the olden days most Catholic diocese had a single Bishop while now this figure has plummeted, in our diocese we now have to get by with only one.

The scale of this calamity can be seen in the measures that have been imposed, such as the new way of grouping parishes for the purposes of confirmation. When I was confirmed it didn't happen every year but the Bishop was able to confirm candidates in their own parish. Now of course, with the number of Bishops having fallen so dramatically, confirmations are grouped so that the candidates from parishes across the city are confirmed in a single location.

Which is just rubbish.

Everybody knows it's rubbish, all the priests I have spoken to would prefer to have confirmations every few years in the home parish, all the parents and extended families I spoke to at last years bulk confirmation lamented it and said it was a shame.

Update:

It has been pointed out to me that this blog entry may be a bit on the harsh side and that Bishop Drainey might have good reason for devoting less time to doing confirmations, e.g. in order to do more thorough parish visitations. Fair enough.

It was also suggested that as Bishop Drainey is the Bishop then if I don't like his decisions I should keep quiet about it. How is that working for them over in Ireland?

Of all the Sacraments, Confirmation can be the hardest to get my head around. It's almost a part of baptism, But it isn't. Or is it? Along with Baptism it's one of the Sacraments of Initiation by which we enter the Church, only Baptised people are already members of the Church. It's like Baptism for grown ups... but it isn't Baptism. It perfects the work started at Baptism. But it isn't a part of Baptism. I think that's right anyway...

What I do find helpful is to look at the guys (and Mary) who followed Christ before and after Pentecost. Something happened in that upper room. Something significant. Before then, they followed Christ like a child follows a parent. They take a share in the life of Christ and they try to do what he says but, when the shepherd is struck down the sheep are scattered. After Pentecost they go out to work on Christ's behalf. It's not just a change in job description, there is a spiritual change as well. At Pentecost the Church received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit which is necessary if we are to do Christ's work which we cannot do on our own. An important spiritual event that we cannot see but need to experience... sounds like a job for a Sacrament to me.

Just like the disciples. We follow Christ at first in a passive childlike role (usually because we start out as children). What is interesting is that Church recognises that the move from childlike listening to active participation in the life of the Church is not simply a matter of personal development. It's not a coming of age thing, where we gradually change from child to adult and then the Bishop comes for a big party when we are fourteen. No. It's a hidden internal spiritual change, like at our baptism. It's a change that can't and won't happen without the work of the Holy Spirit.

So when the Bishop anoints you with oil and says "N... be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" N actually is sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. N needs the gift of the Holy Spirit because without the gift of the Holy Spirit N is going to find the Christian life not just very difficult, but impossible.

Anyways, tuesday last (I'm behind on my blogging) that all happened to Ella's brother...

I thought it a bit of a shame that the confirmations took place at St. Charles. I think it's a lot nicer when the Bishop visits an individual parish and confirms a smaller number of people. It's closer, more personal and less like one of those giant Moonie weddings. The Bishop confirmed over seventy people which took a while. It would have made a huge difference to break that down in to three groups. Maybe a Polish group, a West Hull (Inc. Hessle) group and a North Hull group. I can understand how that's difficult to do with the current crisis in vocations, I mean, back when the Diocese had as many as one Bishop that sort of thing was possible. These days that number has plummeted to only one Bishop and there's no way we can expect him to get around as much.

Joking aside, our Diocese has been without a Bishop for a while and there's probably a lot to catch up on. In spite of all that, Bishop Drainey has already been around a lot more than I thought any Bishop ever would. He's definitely putting in overtime. Unfortunately when you confirm over seventy people there is no time for a mass (actually, I think there bloody well is time for a mass, but the general populace says two hours is long enough already).It was a real source of sadness to many people present and I overheard more than a few poignant remarks. I'm really hoping it's a temporary situation.

At the end of the day, confirmation is a very good thing no matter how you celebrate it. Thanks be to God that we had so many young people to celebrate it with.