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The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, will now administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to children at the age of 7, a change from the past diocesan custom of Confirming children in the ninth or tenth grade.
This change was announced on May 28 in a pastoral letter from Bishop William Wack, CSC, titled "Reborn, Anointed, Nourished: Faith and Formation for Life."
“It is my joy to share with you my vision for a renewal of sacramental life in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, and a renewal of faith in Jesus Christ in our families. In this Pastoral Letter, I wish to explain my decision to move the age of Confirmation for Catholic children from the ninth or tenth grade to what is called in church law 'the age of discretion,' around seven years of age," said Bishop Wack.
The move to change Confirmation is "rooted deeply in the Church's ancient tradition and the profound wisdom of her liturgical practice, seeks to administer the three sacraments of initiation in their proper sequence: Baptism, followed by Confirmation, and then First Eucharist," he said.
Now, said Bishop Wack is "a truly pivotal moment for our local Church" and is a "vibrant testament to the ceaseless activity of the Holy Spirit in our midst — the same Spirit who continually calls us to deeper holiness and impels us toward greater evangelization.”
Sacraments, said Bishop Wack, are more than just items to check off as complete as one grows older.
"Jesus instituted these sacraments as a means for human beings to access the riches of grace flowing from his saving death and resurrection. They are not merely empty symbolic actions performed by the community that is the church. Rather, sacraments contain and communicate the grace that they each uniquely signify," he explained.
While a person receives the gift of the Holy Spirit at their baptism, "it is only in Confirmation that baptismal grace is brought to completion," said the bishop.
Teenage Confirmation is relatively recent
Confirmation, he explained, is intended to prepare a person's soul for the reception of the Eucharist, yet in most dioceses in the United States, a child makes their First Communion long before they are Confirmed.
The tradition of Confirmation in a person's teenage years, after their First Communion, started in 1910, the bishop said.
"In 1910, Pope St. Pius X tried to remedy what was then a pastoral and spiritual problem. In his time, children were generally receiving Confirmation and then First Communion around the age of twelve, even though the law of the church allowed for them to receive at the age of discretion, seven years old," he said. "The Pope, realizing especially that the widespread changes in Western culture were undermining faith, wanted children to have access to the fullness of sacramental grace as early as possible. However, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the Pope, in his document lowering the age of First Communion to seven years old, only made mention of the Eucharist and was silent on Confirmation."
This, said Wack, transformed the view of the sacrament in Catholic culture as "rite of passage" or "coming of age" event.
"This misunderstanding of Confirmation eventually translated into a sacrament of adulthood, making it into what it was decidedly not: the culminating sacrament of Christian maturity – a title only to be held by the Most Holy Eucharist," he said.
"It is my desire that, in restoring Confirmation to the age of discretion, received before Holy Communion, I am giving the children in our diocese what is their sacred right in the church: to receive both Confirmation and Eucharist in those profoundly formative years of their life," said Bishop Wack.
Holy Spirit is moving us
Additionally, the current system of sacraments requires that anyone over the age of seven receive all three sacraments of initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist – at the same time, typically at the Easter Vigil. This, said Bishop Wack, creates a situation where a child who was not baptized Catholic yet is received into the Church is able to receive the graces of Confirmation long before their peers who have been faithful Catholics their entire lives.
"Why should a child who was baptized Catholic have to wait until they are older to be confirmed?"
Rather than "wringing our hands and lamenting" about young people losing their faith or leaving the Church, Bishop Wack believes "the Holy Spirit is moving us to be proactive in forming our children and families in the faith of Jesus Christ from the time they are born throughout their entire life."
A growing trend in US dioceses
The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee's announcement comes about six weeks after the Archdiocese of Baltimore lowered their Confirmation age to nine.
Other dioceses have made similar changes.
In fall 2024, the Archdiocese of Boston announced a plan to transition Confirmation from 10th grade to 8th, and in December of that year, the Diocese of Baton Rouge released a plan to lower the Confirmation age to 7th grade.
Back in 2019, the Archdiocese of Seattle moved the age for the Sacrament from 11th grade to 7th.
