Usually Confirmation would be celebrated in each parish during the year. This year the Archdiocese will gather on one day, Trinity Day, to celebrate Confirmation. Such a gathering will provide a living experience of what it means to belong to the Catholic Church, and raise the awareness that the Church is much bigger than the usual Sunday experience of the local parish.
The gathering will use the traditional Christian symbols to focus the celebration. These symbols are:
– the cross, under which all Christians gather to live and pray
– water, by which the new member is brought into the life of the community
– light, which provides direction to one’s life in the community
– Word of God, which forms every Christian gathering for prayer, and
– chrism, the holy oil which speaks of the fragrant presence of the Spirit of God
These five symbols will draw together in the celebration of Confirmation.
Confirmation will also be held during the celebration of Mass. The Mass is the most theologically and liturgically appropriate setting for conferring the Sacrament of Confirmation and completing Christian Initiation into the Eucharistic community. It will also provide an opportunity for those present, many of whom are not regular worshippers, to take part in a very moving Eucharist.
The many candidates will have been sent by their parish community to come to Confirmation – and will be sent by the Archbishop of Sydney to return to their parish community to live the gift of the Spirit that they will receive. Each individual is called to contribute to the life of the parish so that each parish can form the one Church of God.
The SuperDome has become the focus of many sporting and entertainment events. On Trinity Sunday 2005 it will provide space for the Catholic community of Sydney to gather in the unity of the Spirit of God to bring new life into the hearts of its members.