SAN DIEGO — Spring is an especially busy time for bishops.
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy and Auxiliary Bishops Ramón Bejarano, Michael Pham and Felipe Pulido will travel throughout the Diocese of San Diego — a territory of more than 8,850 square-miles – to confer the sacrament of confirmation.
Between April 5 and June 20, the sacrament will be celebrated at 84 parish locations. Collectively, almost 3,750 youth will be confirmed after completing the required two years of sacramental preparation classes.
Baptism, the Eucharist and confirmation comprise the three sacraments of Christian initiation. In the Western Church, the ordinary minister of confirmation is a bishop; however, the sacrament can be delegated to priests on such occasions as the Easter Vigil, when parishes receive catechumens and candidates into full communion with the Church.
Confirmation is accomplished through the laying on of hands, anointing the forehead of the baptized with a perfumed oil called sacred chrism, and the words “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The sacrament completes baptism and produces what the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes as “an increase and deepening of baptismal grace.”
Cardinal McElroy celebrated the first confirmation Mass of the season on April 5 at
