Confirming three young women

I had the great privilege of confirming three young women this evening. Bishop Roche kindly delegated to me his powers of confirmation for this occasion. Two of the women - Sophie Swain and Claire Burke, both primary education students - were member of the class I taught for the Catholic Certificate of Religious Studies earlier in the year. The third, Terrimarie McKeown, graduated a couple of years ago and currently works as a carer for one of our disabled students: we have known each other for several years. I've greatly enjoyed meeting up with them in recent months. It was clear to me from the outset that each was firmly resolved to become a full member of the Church. We have used YouCat as a basis for our discussions and it has been very frutiful. This evening their parents, friends and boyfriends attended the Confirmation Mass, which was our usual 6pm Mass. The young womens' decision has clearly made an impact across their circle of acquaintance. I said to one of them, half in fun, that next year I might just announce that I would hold Confirmation classes for anybody who had missed out on this sacrament as a teenager. "I think you should," she said. So I will. Here are a few pictures of our joyful evening. The lower ones are of the girls with their families, sponsors and boyfriends. Thank you to Dominica and John for preparing our post-Mass champage (-type) reception! This was certainly one of the highpoints of our Chaplaincy year.