Personal Paths: After confirmations, two students find separate answers to beliefs

On this past Sunday, myself and several others got confirmed in the church.

This might be an odd term to some who aren’t familiar with it. Confirmation, to put in simple terms, is when the church recognizes teens as adults.

This may not seem like a big deal but I’ll break it down a bit. Up until confirmation, your parents make most, if not all, religious decisions. However, after confirmation, you are free to make all these decisions for yourself.

Some take this chance to say, “Forget church, I want to sleep on Sundays,” while some, remain loyal to their church. A person’s mind set changes, some greater than others. It’s hard to directly explain it, but here’s an attempt of explaining my experience.

Prior to confirmation, I rarely needed my mom to do much in the concept of religious decisions, unless waking me up for church counts. I was always loyal to my religion. This is not to say there are some days I haven’t wanted to go to church, but I still went.

Church is my escape from the world, in a sense. This is because, in church, no one judges you. In the eyes of God, we are all equals.

Post-confirmation, my mindset has not changed in some ways, but it’s also changed a ton on others. To put it in a sense I can describe, it’s like on your birthday when you know you’re a year older, but you don’t feel older. I know I’m confirmed, but I don’t feel confirmed.It’s hard to describe exactly, due to it being a very quick experience.

All that happened during the ceremony was my “new name,” which was a saint I chose to call during this ceremony, was called; I was anointed with oil; I said “Amen” and then I was confirmed. It was such a quick processes, and you don’t really realize what it means, as most kids just get confirmed and leave. It’s such an odd experience, but an important one at that.

This experience is not one I will forget, easily. I know I’m confirmed, but I don’t exactly “feel” confirmed. This is probably because nothing much will change, since I will continue to go to church and stay loyal to who I am. I am not the kind of person to change just because of a certain ceremony.

To add another example, when I’m 18, I most likely will not move out, or when I’m 21, I won’t drink a ton, if at all. I am not one to let events change me. I am confirmed now, so the church will look at me differently, and in a sense, I’m going to look at myself differently.

By Staff Writer Noah Forker

I was raised as a Catholic ever since the day I was born. My parents weren’t the strictest when it came to religion, but they made sure I got the gist of what being a Christian Catholic meant. We went to church about every other week on Sunday mornings, and we prayed every night before dinner.  I attended a Catholic preschool and started religious education classes (RE) when I started kindergarten.

To put it lightly, I did not like them. They were boring, and it seemed to me like they taught us the same stuff every week — things like how Jesus died for me, and how he will forgive anyone, no matter what crimes they commit. I, like many people, never really understood that part. I associated my religion with boredom and unimportance at an early age.

I was always skeptical about my Christianity, except I never really knew that I had the power to change my religious beliefs. I always just took what was spoken to me as fact from my parents and teachers, like most good kids do.

It wasn’t until high school that I started to challenge my faith and question everything I was ever taught in RE and in church. I started getting interested in science and math, and I questioned the believability of the Catholic church, but deep down I remained faithful to my religion and kept quiet about my suspicions.

It wasn’t until about two months before my confirmation that the realization hit me: I would be done after that. I wouldn’t have to attend any more classes or be guilted into a religion that I didn’t really believe had any backbone in my everyday life.

I have been living my life just fine without relying on my faith, and I don’t see a future where I will.

After having been confirmed, I do feel a sense of relief and accomplishment from completing the introductory courses to become confirmed, although I still do not believe that it has at all convinced me to continue with my faith. I only see it as a step to living my life without the burden of others guilting and pressuring me into a faith I do not see any merit in.

By Staff Writer Andrew Nickey