The Sacrament of Confirmation
Strengthening our faith, sealing our baptismal covenant, and welcoming the gifts of the Holy Spirit to witness to Christ in the world.
Sacrament Preparation
The journey to Confirmation at St. Joseph is a three-year process of spiritual growth, study, and community service designed to prepare young people to assume their active role in the Church.
Schedule & Formation Classes
Starting September 12th, 2025, Faith Formation classes for Confirmation will be held on Fridays from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The course runs for three years, so children register for Confirmation classes at 11 years of age.
The Three-Year Process
Year 1: Foundations & Formation
Candidates enter the program at age 11, attending Friday classes to dive deep into Holy Scripture, the Creed, and understand the commitments of their baptismal faith.
Year 2: Choosing a Sponsor
During the second year, the candidate selects a qualified sponsor (fully initiated, practicing Catholic) and begins to discern their role as a witness to the faith.
Year 3: Final Readiness & Examination
In the final year, candidates choose a Confirmation Saint name, write a letter to the Bishop requesting the sacrament, complete required parish and community service hours, attend Eucharistic adoration, pass written and oral exams, and participate in a final interview with the pastor.
Sponsor Suitability Form
All sponsors must complete and have their local parish priest sign and seal the suitability form to serve in this sacramental ministry.
About the Sacrament of Confirmation
At Confirmation, we confirm our baptismal promises and are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Through the laying on of hands by the Bishop and the anointing with Holy Chrism, we are endowed with a special strength to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.
"Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament that gives the Holy Spirit to root us more deeply in the divine affiliation, 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..." (CCC 1316)
"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 by word and deed as true witnesses of Christ." (Lumen Gentium 11)
Scriptural Foundation
Holy Scripture demonstrates that the laying on of hands for the conferral of the Holy Spirit was recognized as a distinct sacramental act from water baptism since the apostolic age:
Hechos / Acts 8:14-17
In Acts 8:14-17, Peter and John travel to Samaria to lay hands on those who had already been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, so they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Hechos / Acts 19:5-6
In Acts 19:5-6, St. Paul baptizes believers in Ephesus in the name of Jesus, and as soon as he lays his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit comes down on them.