Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick has announced that Confirmations will take place in late summer as he launched a new online registration system for families of children preparing for the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation in the Diocese. The bishop has also this weekend released details of an online liturgy for Leaving Certificate students this coming Wednesday.
Bishop Leahy said, “While specific arrangements regarding the ceremonies will be based on public health guidance at the time, these celebrations will be the same special sacramental rite of passage, except perhaps for the numbers involved”
The bishop said, “It has been good on this Pentecost Sunday to dedicate our attention particularly to the girls and boys making their Confirmation and their families. We know they are very much looking forward to the big day and my hope is that from late summer onwards we will be able in small groups to begin celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation in parishes across the diocese.”
Bishop Leahy said that since the boys and girls will by late summer have left their current school, the Diocese has set up a registration system to facilitate arrangements. Families are asked to register the girl or boy who has been preparing for Confirmation on a Diocesan Registration Form available on the Limerick Diocesan Website, www.limerickdiocese.org. The Diocese will then inform the parish which will, in turn, be in touch directly with the families.
Likewise, he said, families are asked to register any girl or boy who has been preparing for First Holy Communion on a similar form, which can also be downloaded from the diocesan website.
Bishop Leahy also gave details of an online liturgy on Wednesday for 6th year students who were due to commence their leaving cert examinations on Wednesday. This will be delivered online on Wednesday 3 June at 7.00pm by Bishop Leahy, together with Fr. Chris O’Donnell and Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator Aoife Walsh. The liturgy of encouragement will be streamed from St. John’s Cathedral webcam and on the Limerick Diocesan Facebook page.
He said, “Even though they’ve had incredible uncertainty in the last weeks or months, nevertheless, this is an important moment to mark. It is a milestone. The class of 2020 will bring with them to future generations a unique experience, one that has certainly brought home both the fragility of life and the importance of focussing on what really matters. It has made us appreciate many things we normally take for granted, life itself, but also family, friends, work and the services of many normally not really acknowledged.
“In congratulating the 2020 class, I also encourage them to nurture their relationship spiritually with God who has created each person as a gift for others with a mind to think, a heart to love and hands to take action. I pray that each young man and woman of the 2020 class, with their unique experience marked by the Covid-19 crisis, may go forward in life with the desire to leave a mark in history, making a real difference in our world.”
Bishop Leahy also urged people not to be complacent now that we seem to be getting on top of the first wave of the COVID-19. He said, “The R rate we’re told is going in the right direction. We thank God. Let’s remember the motto, more haste less speed. We want to move to our destination but let’s make sure we get there within the speed limits indicated for our good. Otherwise, the ‘speed kills’ warning will apply to the roadways of our relationships and social gatherings. Moving steadily and safely we will save lives.”
ENDS
