Oil and OLC

Last week I had 2 parents - the Mother and Father - of a Confirmation candidate come to the church and ask why I use so much oil at Confirmation.  The timing of the conversation was a little odd. They had phoned in to the office to complain to one of the students at the office - who said that they needed to talk to me as pastor.  Then they arrived as I was leaving - around 1:30 pm. that same afternoon.  While it was the last Sunday of October - and was the last Sunday for registration for Sacraments - its not like we had just had a meeting for parents, or there was some reference in the homily, or readings to oil... The timing was just odd.  
For years (centuries ago in fact) the Church struggled to define what was minimally necessary for a sacrament.  At least 3 "drops" of water and the Trinitarian Formula (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) for Baptism;  The consent of each person and at least 2 witnesses other than the Church witness (Priest or Deacon) for Marriage; imposition of hands, and anointing with oil by the thumb on the forehead for Confirmation.
When was the last time we saw 3 drops of water at a baptism? When was the last time you saw 5 people at a wedding?  Just because there is a minimum does not make it the standard.  The minimum is just that: minimal. I remember a liturgist once saying, "Large symbols speak, small symbols squeak!"  This is what I tried to communicate to these parents, with little success - standing at the doorway of the church - at the end of a busy Sunday.
I invited them to contact me for a further conversation - which has not happened - in hopes that they could hear some more reflections on this matter. They said - was there a possibility of change - and I said "YES - you could see things the way I do!"  They were not too happy with that - and said no way were they changing and turned to leave. I then said - "You want me to be prepared to change my  practice of over 13 years in my priesthood, but you yourselves are not open to that possibility of change yourselves."  Interesting.  Maybe they will go off and grumble with other parents. Maybe they will contact the Archdiocese. Maybe they will go to another parish. Or maybe they will realize, if they are regular parishioners, that the Bishop will most likely be coming to celebrate Confirmation in 2014 - and then "a little dab will do ya!"

This week (Nov. 6-8) the Ontario Liturgical Conference (OLC) - the organization which provides advice to the Bishops of Ontario on Liturgical matters - will be meeting in Mississauga. The OLC is composed of representatives of the different dioceses in Ontario, and "members at large" who have expertise in liturgical matters. (I am a member at large!) This year - along with the annual meeting - there is a workshop on Christian Initiation. The hope is that the 100 people who will be joining the 20 or so regular members of the OLC will be able to see that the work in parishes that is often considered "Sacramental Preparation" is really all about initiation.  Jerry Galipeau - who is Vice President and Chief Publishing Officer for JS Paluch a Catholic Pubisher in the US - is going to be our main presenter.  He has a blog that I highly recommend: GottaSingGottaPray
Peace