First Communion
The Sacrament of First Holy Communion enables our children to become one with God by receiving the Body and Blood – the soul and divinity – of Jesus Christ through the Eucharistic meal.
The First Holy Communion Mass is usually held on Corpus Christi Sunday (Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.)
The Bishop has given permission for children in this parish to be admitted to Communion before Confirmation. (This practice is now widespread in the Church of England as well as elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.)
The child must:
The Sacrament of First Holy Communion enables our children to become one with God by receiving the Body and Blood – the soul and divinity – of Jesus Christ through the Eucharistic meal.
The First Holy Communion Mass is usually held on Corpus Christi Sunday (Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.)
The Bishop has given permission for children in this parish to be admitted to Communion before Confirmation. (This practice is now widespread in the Church of England as well as elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.)
The child must:
- attend church regularly on a Sunday
- be in Year 3 or above in school
- be baptised and be able to provide evidence for this
- be prepared to be confirmed when they are older (see confirmation policy below)
- regularly attend and participate in a First Communion programme provided by the church
- show enough maturity to understand some of the importance and nature of the Sacrament and be able to be appropriately respectful and reverential
- be supported and encouraged by parents/guardians who will be expected to attend some of the programme.
Confirmation
Confirmation is a special church service in which a person confirms the promises that were made when they were baptized. If you were baptized at a christening when you were a child, your parents and godparents made these promises on your behalf. As a young person or adult, you may be ready to affirm these promises for yourself and commit your life to following Jesus Christ. At a confirmation service, you make these promises for yourself. Your friends and family as well as the local Christian community will be there to promise to support and pray for you.
The local bishop will lay their hands on your head and ask God’s Holy Spirit to give you the strength and commitment to live God’s way for the rest of your life.
At confirmation, there are no godparents because you make the promises for yourself, but you may be asked if you would like a sponsor to stand with you as a supporting friend in your journey of faith. Usually this is someone who has previously been confirmed.
The person to be confirmed must:
Confirmation is a special church service in which a person confirms the promises that were made when they were baptized. If you were baptized at a christening when you were a child, your parents and godparents made these promises on your behalf. As a young person or adult, you may be ready to affirm these promises for yourself and commit your life to following Jesus Christ. At a confirmation service, you make these promises for yourself. Your friends and family as well as the local Christian community will be there to promise to support and pray for you.
The local bishop will lay their hands on your head and ask God’s Holy Spirit to give you the strength and commitment to live God’s way for the rest of your life.
At confirmation, there are no godparents because you make the promises for yourself, but you may be asked if you would like a sponsor to stand with you as a supporting friend in your journey of faith. Usually this is someone who has previously been confirmed.
The person to be confirmed must:
- be baptised and be able to provide evidence for this
- attend church regularly on a Sunday
- be fifteen years of age (or rising fifteen) and mature enough to attend our Confirmation Programme
- people younger than fourteen will be expected to participate in the First Communion Programme or wait until they are rising fifteen.
- be able to regularly attend and participate in a Confirmation Programme (the Church will endeavour to make this Programme as accessible as it can in terms of time and place.)