It doesn't happen every day. A bishop coming to Footville. It happened last week as the parishes of St. Augustine of Footville and St. Paul's of Evansville celebrated the Confirmation of their youth together in Footville.
Confirmation is an interesting tradition in Christian communities. As Father Kevin Dooley had noted the week earlier in the practice rehersal, Confirmation reminded him of a favorite story. One day one of his family had discovered some bats in the attic. A relative who was a priest said, "No problem, I'll just come and Confirm them and we will never see them again."
So--while in theory the notion of Confirmation is that it is a deep religious event when the Holy Spirit comes to strengthen the young adult----the real mystery is that many of those same youth will not set foot in church again for a long time to come.
In the ceremony, as you may remember, the young person repeats the vows that the parent made for the young baby---Do you renounce Satan? etc. Now the child is free to speak for himself or herself. Many times, the Bishop who presides at Confirmation gives a real "fire and brimstone" type of sermon. The previous Bishop Bullock was famous for his sermon. One was so wired for the wiles of Satan, that one looked for Satan as one left Church. It was pretty vivid.
In Footville, on Tuesday, something remarkable happened. Bishop Morlino did not give a fire and brimstone sermon. He instead spoke of the risen Christ and how when He appeared on the road to the strangers and later to the Apostles, His wounds were present but "glorified." He went on to explain to the young boys and girls "that it was important to have realistic expectations on what a strong faith looks like. It is going forward with the wounds. It's not being made whole. "
The older folks in the church as I gazed over the crowd knew exactly what the Bishop was talking about. The Bishop himself had been recovering from a heart attack over the past year, and he too was going forward with some wounds. Anyway, the kids did seem to understand that presto the difficulties of youth were not going to be solved, but that they could get the strength to go forward----with their wounds.
All in all, a wonderful event. Thanks to Bishop Morlino and all who contributed to this happening.
