The Order of Sacraments

If you ever attend a meeting for the Sacrament of Confirmation at Holy Family Parish - you will learn that Confirmation is the Second Sacrament of Initiation.  For years Catherine Ecker, our parish Catechist, has been trying to let one of the Church's seemingly great secrets out of the bag so to speak.  The normative order for the Sacraments of Initiation is: 

• Baptism
• Confirmation
• Eucharist

Even though many people in North America receive these sacraments in a different order (Baptism, Eucharist, Conformation) that does not deny the the normative order!  When we think of a person who comes to faith as an adult - they receive the Sacraments of Initiation in one celebration at the Easter Vigil: They are first Baptized, then they are Anointed in Confirmation, then they come to share in the Eucharist. The normative order.
Originally all three Sacraments were celebrated together at the Easter Vigil in the early church.  It was only as the church grew, and the Bishop could not Baptize and Confirm everyone, that he delegated priests to Baptize, and later he would come and "Confirm" the Baptism.  As the size of the church and the distances needed to travel grew, the period between the Baptism and the Confirmation also grew.  In the Eastern Church - the Bishop kept his connection to Confirmation by blessing the oil used, and delegated the Priest to Baptize, Confirm and give Eucharist at the same time. In the west (Latin) church the Bishop retained the right to Confirm.  This was done before the person would receive the Eucharist.
This was the universal practice of the church up until 1910, when Pope Pius X lowered the age when children could share in the Eucharist - to the age of reason - about the 7th year of life.  Whenever a child is able to determine that the bread of the Eucharist is different from the bread of the dinner table - and that it is the Body of Christ, they are able to receive - share in the Eucharist (Including the precious blood).
Most Bishops in Europe saw that there would be an issue with this lower age for Eucharist and lowered the age for celebrating Confirmation.  In North America there were not changes - until after the second Vatican Council, and the restoration of the   Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults lead to an understanding of the proper order of sacraments for children Baptized in the Catholic Church.


Why all this History?  Yesterday the Holy Father praised the work of a Bishop from Fargo, North Dakota (In the US) for restoring the order of the sacraments.  This has been done (and un-done) in some of the Dioceses of Ontario.  Here is the news article.
What a wonderful news piece to end a week upon!
Peace