Confirmation and Pentecost

Last night my eldest daughter was confirmed.  I thought it was pretty neat that this was happening on Pentecost weekend since the date for Confirmation is pretty random.  She had our retired Bishop, Bishop Costello, confirm her and chose as her sponsor, her Godfather.  It was a wonderful night.  My daughter, who is a scientist at heart chose the name Ignatius.  She respects him for his life and for what he has done for education. She is also an idealist and this combination can really put her at odds with the Catholic Church. Her desire is to take a skill and serve the most impoverished areas of the world.  There was a time last fall when she told me she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be confirmed…and for me, that was okay in as much as it is her decision. I believe in honesty with my kids, especially when it comes to faith matters.  The reality is that our church is a mess…it is not the church that it can or should be.  That was her argument and it is true. But I asked her to look beyond that and to look at our parish.  Which is what I do when I consider throwing in the towel (and I do often!) and asked her, “what have any of those people done except love you and try to help you grow in your faith?”  The problem was that I understood too well her dilemma and her desire to be honest and to have integrity. It wasn’t God that she was thinking of rejecting, it was the structure of things that do not work.  But, I told her what I tell myself.  I believe God placed us here when our parents gave us their faith in baptism (I believe it all the more since my father had been Lutheran and had converted to Catholicism).  That is why I don’t leave, I am trusting God’s judgment on this.  So, my job is to be part of the solution.  Hers is to determine what path she will chose…she is young. Last night, as she asked her Godfather, a former DRE and Youth Minister who once considered the priesthood, who worked on his Masters in Divinity but who is disenchanted (to say the least) with organized religion;  who is ultimately  someone who understands that there is “something” to all of this, to reaffirm his role as someone she could journey with in this part of her life.  It was a beautiful thing. I think they will help each other.My belief is that there is no perfect faith.  There is no ideal religion.  Everything we do as human beings is flawed in some way.  The best we can do is the best we can do.  We can make a promise and keep it.  We can be faithful to living a certain teaching.  We can count ourselves as part of a larger family of God.  But that is all we can really do.  I can say, without hesitation, that I follow Jesus Christ. I can say I am his disciple because I am trying to learn how to do what he does. I can say that I am fed and nourished by the Eucharist.  But I am not sure I believe every other aspect of what it is to be Catholic.  I only know that for now, it is where I belong.  I think that particular bit of wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  That my child trusts my judgment on this is an enormous gift to me.  It is very humbling and makes me want to be a better example to her.
God bless Bishop Costello who was focused on her name Ignatius…who, though clearly tired, laid hands with great conviction and called upon the whole community to pray deeply…sitting among us so as to show that his prayer was equal to our own.  Ensuring that she and all her peers were sealed…with the love and grace of the Holy Spirit.On this Pentecost Sunday when all of the disciples finally had what it took to break free from fear and spread the Good News, I say a special prayer for the children that were confirmed and for those who stood behind them, laying on their hands in a way of blessing, that their faith, imperfect though it will be, shine a light on the love of Jesus Christ for all to witness. That Love, is indeed, perfect.