Dear Maryjean:

Jesus said to allow the little children to come to him. This was said when people were trying to keep the children away from Jesus.

The Latin Rite of the Church has established that the age of reason is seven years of age the child is to be allowed to enjoy these Sacraments as soon as possible as is stated in Canon 914 as long as they are properly prepared. It is the primary duty of the parents to decide when the child is ready for Confession and Communion.

As it is stated in the University of Navarre Canon Law commentary:

Once the child has attained the use of reason, the lack of adequate preparation can be attributed only to the parents, to those acting in loco parentis, and to the parish priest. This serious obligation is incumbent on them and we consider it to be so in the order indicated in the canon [i.e., first parents, then others acting as parents, then the parish priest]. The parish priest has a greater responsibility, but only with regard to the negative function of preventing the child from coming to first communion without adequate preparation: he must accept the child, however, when the parents (who have the primary obligation and right, in our opinion, that the parish priest being subsidiary) present a child as being sufficiently prepared.

The priest cannot prevent first confession and first communion if the child is at least seven years old and the parents have determined the child is adequately prepared. The priest would have to have demonstrable proof that the child is not prepared to deny the Sacraments to that child.

From what you are describing about your own children it would seem they are more than properly prepared. They are wonderfully mature about the faith already. Good job on you and your husband's part.

When the child is properly prepared the child is to receive the Sacrament of Confession before receiving the Eucharist. This priest who said that this sequence is no longer done is in error.

As for what I presume is a rumor that the archbishop may decide to delay first communion until twelve years of age, I would wait and see it this actually happens. I am not a canon lawyer, but I believe the Archbishop does not have the authority to make such a decision when it is contrary to canon law. Should this happen I would certainly write the Vatican about it. But, rumors are rumors. We should not get excited about something that is only a rumor.

I think it is much more likely is that the Archbishop may be setting the age for Confirmation, not for first communion. Canon law 891 states that the Sacrament of Confirmation "is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion, unless the Bishops' Conference has decided on a different age..."

The age of discretion is not the same thing as the age of reason. The age of discretion is usually considered to about around the age of 12-13 or so.

However, in a letter to a diocesan bishop concerning Confirmation, dated 12.18.1999, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated that...

...when a member of the faithful wishes to receive this sacrament, even though not satisfying one or more elements of the local legislation (e.g., being younger  than the designated age for administration of the sacrament), those elements must give way to the fundamental right of the faithful to receive the sacrament. Indeed, the longer the conferral of the sacrament is delayed after the age of reason, the greater will be the number of candidates who are prepared for its reception but are deprived of its grace for a considerable period of time (Prot no. 2607/98/L; Notitiæ 35 1999, 537-542).

I will be willing to bet if this rumor has any truth to it at all, that the 12 years of age business is referring to age of Confirmation.

By the way, in the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist are all given at the same time to an infant. The infant does not need Confession of course. This practice in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church is fully approved by the Vatican. It is in the Latin Rite that confession and communion is delayed until at least seven years of age.

In terms of going to another diocese, we are free to attend Mass at any parish we wish. First Communion is not a required ceremony. It is merely a custom to mark this wonderful rite of passage for the children. A child, when properly disposed, and seven years of age or older may, receive first confession and first communion without any ceremony.

Thus, if need be, parents could take their children to another diocese for them to receive confession and communion should their diocese of residence make the idiotic decision that children cannot receive until twelve years of age. The children may be deprived of the ceremony, but the only real importance is to receive our Lord. However, I really doubt if the Archbishop is changing first communion to 12 years of age. I think the Archbishop is talking about the age for Confirmation.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary