Feb. 6, 2024
Confirmation Prep Update
PLEASE NOTE: We are aware that some families didn’t receive the following email because it landed in their spam folder. We specifically send these emails via BCC in an effort to prevent this, so unfortunately we’re not sure why that’s happening. Regardless, please rest assured that if you’re receiving this information late, the deadline for your child may be extended to May 1 to provide further time for them to complete these steps.
Dear Confirmation Families,
It's time to get your children started on the next steps of their Confirmation preparation! As you know from their Preparation Timeline, there are a couple of requirements coming due on April 1:
1. Complete the Saint and Sponsor Form
2. Turn in candidate and sponsor baptismal records
Please see below for details on completing each of these requirements and let me know if you have any questions. Information about the next item on the Timeline, Discipleship Reflection #2 (due May 1), will be sent out on April 1 so that it may be completed during the month of April.
SAINT AND SPONSOR FORM INSTRUCTIONS:
Have your child begin thinking about (1) who they want to pick for their Confirmation Saint and (2) who they want to ask to be their Sponsor. Please refer to our specific guidance for choosing these, found here: Choosing a Saint and Sponsor
After they've chosen both their Saint and Sponsor, they need to complete the Saint and Sponsor Form in order to turn in all related information to us. This form is due April 1. Per the note at the top of this post, if your child needs extra time to complete these, they may submit the Saint and Sponsor form by May 1.
Note: We do not ask youth to write a Saint report for Confirmation. However, we do ask a couple of questions on the Saint and Sponsor Form to help us understand why they selected their chosen Saint, as well as their Sponsor.
CANDIDATE AND SPONSOR BAPTISMAL RECORD INSTRUCTIONS:
We must have your child's baptism record on file in order for them to be confirmed at St. Patrick. We are also required to have their sponsor's baptismal record on file. We are asking you to submit both of these this Spring so that we are not trying to track them down in the Fall/Winter when things are much busier on our end.
The only exception to either of these requirements occurs if we already have the candidate and/or sponsor's record on file here at St. Patrick. This would be the case if they were baptized at St. Patrick (in which case the baptismal record is held here at St. Patrick), or if they received First Communion or Confirmation at St. Patrick (in which case we should still have a copy of their record on file from when we collected it for that Sacrament).
Baptism certificates for candidates and/or sponsors may be submitted using this form: Submit a Baptismal Record for Confirmation. A photo or scanned copy of a certificate is sufficient for our purposes. Hard copies of a certificate may also be submitted by mail (ATTN Marissa Dawson, St. Patrick Catholic Parish, 711 Rickett Road, Brighton MI 48116). For your convenience, you also have the option to upload the Sponsor's baptism certificate to the Saint and Sponsor Form (linked above) when you provide us with the rest of the Sponsor's information.
If you do not have your child's baptism certificate at home, you will need to contact the parish where their baptism occurred and request a copy of the certificate. The same applies for sponsors' certificates.
In Christ,
Marissa Dawson - Coordinator of Youth Discipleship
