Education in Faith

Sacrament of Confirmation 2025

We are so pleased to have completed our third Sacramental Program for this year, with students in our Year 5 and 6 class receiving the Sacrament ofConfirmation. 

Confirmation in the Gospel

All of our Catholic Sacraments have a basis in scripture, and Confirmation links closely with the events of Pentecost. 

After the death of the Lord, his disciples were understandable fearful and suffering through loss. They gathered for a Jewish feast day, but hid from the world in quiet. 

The scripture then says that there was a gigantic wind, the disciples appeared with flames above their head and they were granted the divine power to speak in different languages. 

The disciples were then emboldened to rush to the street to share and teach. As our students will tell you they didn't use their powers to talk about what was for dinner, or the football scores! The disciples preached the word of the Lord and aimed to spread the teachings of Jesus. 

We believe that in the Sacrament of Confirmation, through the use of sacred Oil, candidates are sealed with the Holy Spirit.  This gives candidates the grace and strength to see the teachings of the Lord and to promote them each day. 

A nice way to understand this is through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Students study these closely, as they are heroic traits that Jesus demonstrated at almost every point of his life. Through our faith we strive for them to be active parts of our life as well. 

Preparing for Confirmation

Our Year 5 and 6 students did a wonderful job in the preparation for this Sacrament. They embraced their Confirmation Retreat which saw them travel into the city of Melbourne to visit and reflect at Holy Sites. Students visited St Francis Church, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Mary Mackillop Heritage Centre and St Anthony's Capuchin Friary Church. Each site was packed with valuable learning, and the chance to not only reflect on the Holy Spirit, but the lives of special individuals who lived their lives in accordance with it strongly. 

A further part of the preparation for Confirmation is the study of Catholic Saints. We understand that to become a Saint you must meet certain criteria, one of those absolutely being a life lived through the Holy Spirit. Candidates learn about various Saints, but then chose a particular Saint of their own.

They chose this Saint to study, and then take their name in their honour. We know the lives of our candidates may be drastically different to that of Catholic Saints living in the 15th Century, but students chose the qualities and values from their saint they would like to replicate in their own life, in their own way. 

There is never a bad time to look at the amazing lives of Saints of the Catholic Church so please find a list of Saints our candidates chose this year below. You may find you enjoy popping their name into Google and seeing what you find! 

Further to this our candidates select a Confirmation Sponsor. This is someone in their life to serve as a role model, again living in a way our candidates would like to emulate!

The Sacrament

The weather on the day was quite poor but it was a beautiful warm time in our church for the Sacrament. Our candidates did a wonderful job reverently repeating their Baptismal promises, and then met with the Bishop who blessed them and sealed them with the Chrism. 

We were fortunate that we also had candidates from our Parish making their Sacrament at the same time, so it was really a team effort with our school and Parish Team. Please enjoy some photos below!

Thank you! 

This Sacrament is a very big team effort, and lots of work takes place in the lead up. We congratulate all of our candidates, their families and sponsors, they did such a lovely job and made us all very proud! 

We thank Mrs Casey, Mrs Di Camillo and Mrs Carlei for educating the senior school students so wonderfully on this topic, and for continuing to nurture our kind, curious and funny young people in Year Five and Six.

Ms Veronica Blair for her planning of the Mass and her ever-present generosity with her time. From singing practice to leading the beautiful choir. Veronica is a cornerstone of the Parish Team and such a positive role model for our students.

Ms Joan Ferguson for once again organising our vitally important excursion, and for guiding the Sunday School candidates with such warmth. Being able to celebrate Confirmation with both school students and members of the Parish is such a wonderful bonus. Joan is another person we deeply admire and love having around our students.

We also thank Veronica and Joan for all their guidance and support of school staff — they personally help me keep everything together during such a busy time!

Finally, a huge thank you to Bishop Tomlinson, Father Leenus and Deacon John for leading such a meaningful Mass. Father Leenus is always present in our school community, and we know our students adore him just as much as we do.

May our Year Five and Six students continue to walk with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and keep making us smile each day!

Tim O'Mahoney

Education in Faith Leader

tomahoney@santglen.catholic.edu.au