Sacrament is offered during Pentecost Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral
By Dan McWilliams
Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated the adult confirmation Mass on Pentecost Sunday, May 28, and this year a total of 53 men and women received the sacrament at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The annual liturgy is held for those who have been baptized and received first Holy Communion but have not been confirmed.
“It’s one of the things I started right after I arrived in Knoxville because we did it in St. Louis. There are always people who fall through the cracks for whatever reason,” Bishop Stika said. “It’s a beautiful thing. We always do it on Pentecost, and it’s another way the Church touches the lives of other people and people in their lives touch the Church.”
The cathedral’s Deacon Walt Otey, who was master of ceremonies, and Deacon Fredy Vargas assisted the bishop, as did Deacon Erasmo Hernandez of St. Mary Parish in Athens. Deacon Jim Bello, director of the diocesan Office of Christian Formation, and wife Christina brought forward the gifts.
Bishop Stika delivers a prayer for the newly confirmed during the adult confirmation Mass.
“Welcome to the cathedral on this great feast of Pentecost, the day on which the Church became a church thousands of years ago with the feast and the gift of the Holy Spirit that came upon the Apostles—the same Holy Spirit will come upon those to be confirmed this day,” Bishop Stika said in his greeting to the assembly.
Deacon Otey then said, “Bishop Stika, it is my honor to present to you the candidates for confirmation. Candidates and sponsors, please stand.”
The bishop stated: “I know that your pastors have determined that you are ready to be confirmed. So, in the name of the Church, the Diocese of Knoxville, I welcome you as you now have completed the sacraments of initiation: at baptism, at Eucharist, and now of confirmation, so I congratulate you and thank you for this moment.”
A hearty round of applause followed.
Bishop Stika began his homily by saying he had presided at 34 confirmation Masses over a six-week period during the spring.
“Normally, when I do confirmations, they’re fifth-graders and sixth-graders. But it just shows that the sacrament of confirmation is a sacrament that’s not defined by ages,” he said. “A few years ago, I confirmed a 98-year-old man. You see, the sacraments are life-giving. There are people who are babies when they are baptized and adults at whatever age when they are baptized. There are people of various ages who receive the Eucharist for the first time, some as 7-year-olds, others maybe a 98-year-old. And then the sacrament of confirmation. For the three of these sacraments are so uniquely connected by the mission that has been given to the Church by Jesus. So many centuries ago, we hear the story of that first Pentecost, when the Apostles were gathered in that Upper Room. Tradition tells us it might have been where the Last Supper was celebrated, so again, the unique connection: Mass and confirmation.”
Bishop Richard F. Stika confirms a parishioner during the adult confirmation Mass on May 28 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The bishop urged the confirmandi not to be afraid, as the Apostles were after the Ascension and before the Holy Spirit came, reminding the adults receiving the sacrament at the cathedral of St. John Paul II’s words uttered upon his election as pope: “Do not be afraid, for God is with us.”
Bishop Stika said the confirmandi should remember God’s words in the Book of Genesis.
“What does it tell us? That all of us are created in the image and in the likeness of God. All of us. So why would God want us to fail as Christians and as humans?” he said. “God continuously gives us those things to nourish us, to strengthen us, to protect us. It’s His gift, a gift that is given to you and to me. We celebrate today in a very extraordinary way—the sacrament of confirmation. It says in tradition that the Apostles were there and ‘the shutters blew open.’ They didn’t have windows. The shutters blew open, and a gust of wind came into that room. Tongues of fire appeared over their heads. By the way, if you see tongues of fire at this confirmation, please let me know.
“They left that room, and they traveled, and they talked, and they witnessed, and all but one Apostle died a martyr’s death. Terrific, horrible ways to die, except St. John, the Apostle, the youngest, who had a unique privilege because he did not abandon Jesus at the cross. He was there with Mary and what was said by Jesus: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ And John was given that mission to love and to protect the Blessed Mother. And then tradition tells us that he died in his 90s, which was extraordinary.”
The Twelve Apostles, with Matthias added to their ranks, and the other early Christians who risked capture and death for believing in Jesus started a faith tradition that continues to this day, Bishop Stika said.
“And now for us. We look back at that, just think: these 12 people … We’re here today in Knoxville, Tenn., centuries later, worshiping that same God through the gift of the death and resurrection of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit. That’s us,” he said.
The bishop said the cathedral’s dome has a triangle representing the Trinity.
“God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It’s one of the symbols of the Holy Trinity: these three components, one God, indivisible,” he said. “The same Holy Spirit that came upon the Apostles at Pentecost, the same Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus at the Transfiguration, the same Holy Spirit that will come at Mass later when I invoke the Holy Spirit on those gifts of bread and wine, the same Holy Spirit that will be here next Saturday as I ordain three men to be deacons and next year to be priests, and the following week three men who are deacons who will be priests. Earlier in the year I ordained another transitional deacon, so next year we’ll have four new priests. The same Holy Spirit will come upon you today. And also, you have that unique relationship with God because He created you; He wants you to prosper; He wants you to grow; He wants you to witness to the faith, the teachings of Jesus, but also you have another assistant—did you know it? We have guardian angels—Jesus tells us that. Somebody told me once that a bishop has three guardian angels. With all my ill health over the years, I must have worn those three out, and maybe they gave me three more, who knows?”
Each of those receiving the sacrament that day chose a saint for his or her confirmation name, the bishop said.
“They might be one of those 18 saints that are in that lower level of the main dome. You begin a unique and special relationship with that saint because you have chosen them, you honor them, and so that’s a relationship, that’s a friendship, and they’ll never let you down. Why? Because you have honored that saint,” he said. “What a gift that is. There’s one saint—my confirmation name is John, after my grandfather, but at the time I took Joseph privately, but the one I speak to the most is St. Anthony. You know why? ‘St. Anthony, where are my keys? St. Anthony, where is my car in the shopping-mall parking lot?’ He’s the patron saint when you lose something, and he has never let me down. You have that unique relationship.”
Bishop Stika spoke of the questions he was going to ask the confirmandi before the laying on of hands and anointing with chrism on their foreheads.
“With kids, I’m supposed to, and they’re always easy questions, like, ‘Name all the popes, from Peter to Francis’—no. The first question is, ‘Do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises?’ There are some people: ‘Aw, there’s no devil, there’s no Satan, there’s no Lucifer, a guy that’s red and has a tail and horns and whatever they call that thing.’ Some people say, ‘Oh, no, there’s not,’ and yet Jesus was tempted by the devil. Jesus talked about the devil as the prince of lies, because the devil does not want you to believe in Him. He wants you to rationalize mistakes and sins. ‘Oh, it’s OK. You’re just human.’ He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want to be blamed. He doesn’t want us to believe, and that’s why Jesus calls him the prince of liars. Liars. So, I’m going to ask you to reject Satan.
“Still, if you don’t believe in evil, explain to me what’s going on in Ukraine right now: bombs falling on hospitals. Or what’s happening in Sudan or what’s happening with the drug cartels on the southern border. Time and time again, all of these horrible things that are going on in the world. Why? Because see again, the devil. Because one of the greatest gifts we have received is the gift of faith, to trust in God, but also the second-greatest would be to choose: right from wrong, left from right. ‘God, I’m going to ignore you, don’t bother me. Yes, Lord, I’m going to do what you ask, even though it might be difficult, for the sake of the Church or humanity.’ So, I’m going to ask you to reject evil, plain and simple.”
The bishop also asked the confirmandi if they believed in “what is normally the Creed, but I’m going to ask you it by section, and hopefully you’ll say, ‘Yes’ or ‘I do’; otherwise, we’ll all go home. And then following that there is an ancient prayer, the prayer of the laying on of hands, in which I will chant, invoking the Holy Spirit. You might not feel all giddy on the inside or have tongues of fire over your head, but I know this for sure: God does not just deal with us in a moment, but God deals with us through the course of an entire life. Even when you are not paying attention, He is there. He is there. Even if you do not want Him to be there, He is there. He is there. That’s His promise to us. Then following that is the actual chrismation with the chrism that I consecrated last Holy Week. ‘Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit,’ I’ll say and anoint your forehead with that chrism. ‘Peace be with you.’”
And after confirmation?
“Following that you’re going to live the rest of your lives, right? Like you have now, until this moment,” the bishop said. “But always know this: anytime you open your heart to God or when you don’t open your heart to God. He is there. He is there, present in you and in your sisters and brothers, for all of us are created in the image and in the likeness of God.”
Bishop Stika invited those to be confirmed to stand before he stated:
“So now, before you receive the Holy Spirit, I ask you to renew the profession of faith you made in baptism, or your parents and godparents who may have made it in union with the Church. So, my sisters and brothers, I ask you, do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises? Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only son, Our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, who rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who came upon the Apostles at Pentecost and who today is given you sacramentally in confirmation? Do you believe in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? My friends, this is our faith, and this is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it through Christ, Our Lord, amen.”
The bishop chanted a prayer over the confirmandi, who then came forward with their sponsors’ hand on their right shoulder. Bishop Stika anointed them as he addressed them, ‘Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.’”
At the end of Mass, Bishop Stika said, “It was a great honor and blessing for me to celebrate confirmation, as always. It’s a time when I as a bishop am very moved by the faith of the Church in the Diocese of Knoxville, so I offer to you my prayers and support. Please be active members of your parishes, to witness to Jesus, to witness the teachings of Jesus, especially the Beatitudes: to love one another as I, Jesus, have loved you. Know my great love and affection for you all.”
Ryan Ginder of St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut was one of the confirmandi.
“I view it as a reaffirmation of faith,” he said. “In some sense, having come back to religion later in life, it means a lot more to me to do it now because of the fact that I truly have a better understanding of what it is I’m doing and the commitments I’m making and do so freely, and I am very happy and excited to be able to celebrate this day.”
Also confirmed was Claire McNamara of Holy Family Parish in Seymour.
“We moved when I was at the age where you would get confirmed, so I never really was in the right age group when we switched parishes to get confirmed. Now that I’m able to be confirmed with the rest of my family, that means a lot,” she said.
Ms. McNamara chose St. Brigid of Ireland as her confirmation saint.
“My dad’s from Ireland, so it seemed like a pretty easy person to pick,” she said.
DeeAnn Ladwig of the cathedral parish also was confirmed that day.
“It was very special, actually. My mother is a very devout Catholic, and for some reason life got in the way when I was a little girl,” she said. “We’ve been coming here and talking about it for a few years and said, ‘We’re going to make it happen this year.’”
Ms. Ladwig selected St. Elizabeth Ann Seton as her confirmation saint.
“I did some research and felt that she best suited what I related to. She was a little bit more modern, a 19th-century saint,” she said.
Bishop Stika remarked on the variety of saints chosen at the annual adult confirmation Mass.
“I always tell the folks that the saints are those people now that you have honored that they will honor you, and I think that’s a beautiful thing,” he said.
