Confirmation Day, Part II

Thursday was Morgan's Confirmation, the reason that I'd gone out to Jersey. Woke up at a decent time and then Roy, Aunt Nan and I ended up going shopping for a bit around town. I introduced Roy and Aunt Nan to the joy that is Coldstone Creamery, neither of them had ever eaten there before. We headed back home and then headed out to the mall to get Morgan a new outfit to wear, since she had one dress outfit and had worn it to all her friends Bar and Bat Mitzvah's. So we found her a cute new black skirt and top, which is easy when you're a lil size 5.

Rush back to the house.

Change into dress clothes.

Run over to the church and sit through the pre-Confirmation instructions.

Now, I've been through my fair share of Confirmations, in fact we'd had 5 in church the week before. But this was the first time that I'd been to a special mass just for Confirmation. And the first time that I'd seen 104 kids Confirmed at once. That's right ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR. At my church, it's done weekly by a priest. In New Jersey, it was a special service presided over by the Archbishop of Kingston Jamaica, the previous Bishop of the diocese.

And just how long does a Confirmation service for 104 kids take?

Two hours.

Because they had to write letters to the Bishop requesting Confirmation, and the Bishop decided to read 5 of them in their entirety. Luckily, instead of the literal laying on of the hands to invoke the Holy Spirit, they did it all at once in a more figurative since, or we would have been there forever. But it was still special for everyone getting Confirmed because the Bishop spoke to each person individually before sealing them with the Oil of Chrism. Euleasia was in the choir and while Morgan and I were walking for Confirmation, she was singing a solo, so it made it seem even more special.

When we got home, the kids got their gifts, Morgan her Confirmation gifts and Nick his First Communion gifts. Then Roy and I were starving, so we took off in search of food, but at 11 at night, the only thing open was McDonald's, so Big Macs it was and then back home to get some sleep for the trip to New York the next morning.