Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Checking in

I'm sorry that there's been a lack of entries here at "blog central".  On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, we had 2 Masses at which about 170 kids from the parish received the Sacrament of Confirmation (we had 2 similar Masses the Saturday before I left).  I was the MC for our retired Bishop, an amazing 88 year old man.  Should I have said, "88 year old person"?  Did I offend anyone?  Sorry.

I don't believe in "blogging for blogging's sake", meaning putting something up like, "OMG, I just had the best bagel in the world!"  I'm here, but a little bit busy in the humdrum of parish life.

7 comments:

Smiley said...

I went for 2 confirmations here in Canada. What amazed me and left me speechless was that at both Confirmations the bishop did not show up at all. The parish preist administered the sacrament. he put the oils on the confirminands heads. But he did not slap them. WHY such innovations?

Father Jay Toborowsky said...

Canon Law says that, even though the Bishop is the "ordinary minister" of Confirmation, he may delegate someone to confer the Sacrament. This is most often seen at an Easter Vigil, where catechumens are baptized and confirmed, and candidates are received into the Catholic Church, and then confirmed.

As for the slap, that has not been a part of the Confirmation rite for decades. Even if a Bishop had performed the Confirmations, the slap would not have occurred.

Smiley said...

Wow, Im going to be 30 in may when i received my confirmation back in India we got slapped. This was in the post Vatican II climate of the time, so I am a bit confused.
Thanks for clearing up the bit about the bishop not having to be present.

Larry Denninger said...

"OMG, I just had the best bagel in the world!"

LOL! So what flavor was it, Father?

Father Jay Toborowsky said...

LarryD,

I'm a pretty boring guy, actually. Plain, toasted, with butter, and I'm happy.

caite said...

As much as we enjoy reading your posts Father, I am sure we all realize that you may, from time to time, have more important things to do...lol

Adrienne said...

They should not only bring back the slap they should kick their "buttskys" all the way to the choir loft and back again... ;-)