Sunday, May 12, 2013

First Communion Hypocrisy

Have you ever noticed how parishes act for a kid's First Communion?

The kids have to dress up. The girls wear veils. I've never seen any of them receive in the hand because it's the only time of the year when the parish breaks out kneelers or makes use of their altar rail (assuming it has one). You even have special decorations and maybe even a reception for everyone when Mass is over. Of course, the kids have to go to confession, but that's sort of part of the general procedure here in the West anyway.

For one shining time in the child's life, they treat the Mass as what it is. It's all downhill from there. Sure, the measure of time it takes for the decay to set in varies. The clothes change is typically immediate. It's back to jeans and t-shirts (if their parents are particularly pious; otherwise, it might be way worse). A mantilla is never seen again.

The Eucharist is eventually received as a matter of course, rather than as a matter of salvation. There are teenagers getting ready for Confirmation who haven't been to confession since their First Communion. All reverence decomposes until nobody can really recall why they made such a big deal of it the first time around anyway.

Until it's time for their kids.

Then they think of how cute Dick and Jane will look in their nice clothes and how sweet the pictures will be when they kneel for, what is now, the afterthought of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of God Himself.

I'm not saying this is the case for everyone, but seeing kids I know will continue in the their reverence for the Eucharist reminded me of how the vast majority do not and who come to Mass only interested in the fact that they are now one week closer to being old enough to never return again.

Like everything else with the Church, we've turned so much into a production that the reason for everything has been forgotten. The shallow experience of snapping some pictures for the album has replaced the awe surrounding the encounter with Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And the people are content.

What a revolting development.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our parish is quite strict and requires the all white outfits for first holy communion and confirmation[done at age 14].the boys have to wear white suits and ties and white shoes and the girls for first communion have to wear the communion dress,veil,gloves,tights and patent leather shoes.For confirmation,its the same outfit for the boys,the girls have to wear the poofy,floor length dress with the veil,gloves,tights and white 'mary jane'shoes.our parish considers the communion dress and confirmation dress as an extension of the baptism gown the girls were baptized in as infants,so to symbolize the purity of their baptisms,the girls are required to wear infant type under garments under both dresses.the under garments consist of a white cloth diaper,plastic pants and under shirt.the diaper and plastic pants is worn under the tights just like when the girls were baptized as babies.My daughter is 14 and was just confirmed this past may and had to wear the full outfit.

Unknown said...

This is so true and is actually happening everywhere. Well, the Holy Communion is a special occasion for Catholic children to start accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The relationship that they are to build with Christ though is up to them but since they are still so young to think about it, their parents should guide them to build that lasting relationship. :)
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Anonymous said...

My daughter is 13 and making her First communion on may 15th and has to the cloth diaper and rubberpants under her dress per the parish dress code!To make matters worse the rubberpants have to be toddler size!

Anonymous said...

To anonymous-Our daughter just went thru confirmation[age 16,10th grade] and per the parish dress code all the girls had to wear a white,poofy,short sleeve,floor length dress with a veil,gloves,lace anklets and white "mary jane" shoes and a white tee shirt with a cloth diaper and plastic pants under their dresses.The daughter looked very nice in her dress and veil,but felt weird with the diaper and plastic pants under her dress.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous-My neice finially made her First Holy Communion at age 14 in a small town parish in Iowa with the 7 year olds.Per the dress code,the neice and all of the other little girls,had to wear a poofy,top of the knees,short sleeve,communion dress with a tie under the chin infant style bonnet,lace anklets and the white mary jane shoes.Under their dresses they had to wear a cloth diaper and rubberpants[plastic pants] and a white tee shirt as their top.The neice was told that she had to wear the same toddler size rubberpants over her diaper like the little girls had to wear.Her parents got her the Dappi brand rubberpants in the xxl size and they fit snug over her diaper.She wasnt happy about having to wear the bonnet and the diaper and rubberpants and told me she felt like a baby.

Anonymous said...

We live on the east coast in New York and our 15 year old daughter is being baptized at Easter vigil this comming weekend.Our parish requires all the girls 16 and under to be baptized as babies during the vigil and they have to wear a white,infant style,knee length,baptism gown with a matching bonnet,white tights and white 'mary jane'type shoes and a tee shirt and cloth diaper and rubberpants under the tights.Our daughter has the entire outfit all ready to go and it will be nice having her as a 'baby' for her baptism!All the kids who are baptized at Easter vigil will then make their First Communions next month on May 21st.All of the newly baptized girls are still considered babies for their First Communions and have to wear their tee shirt,cloth diaper,plastic pants and tights with their communion dresses,so the daughter will have to wear them again under her communion dress!

Anonymous said...

Our daughter is 11 and will be making her First Holy Communion next month on May 21st and our parish requires the girls to wear a diaper and rubberpants under their communion dresses.I am going to do a size 8 pampers on her with a pair of the Daapi brand xxl size rubberpants over under her dress.Some of the moms i have talked to told me they are also doing the size 8 pampers,while others are doing a cloth diaper under the rubberpants.The lace anklets are required with the dress and veil and a white under shirt is required with the diaper and rubberpants.She has her outfit all ready,and the pampers,rubberpants and undershirt are with her dress and veil.The Dappi rubberpants came 3 pair to a package so she will wear the other two pair for up comming special occasions.

Anonymous said...

Our 14 year old daughter went thru 8th grade confirmation last may and had to wear a white floor length dress and veil with tights and white shoes and all of the girls had to wear a size 8 pampers with rubberpants over it under their tights with an under shirt as their top.

Anonymous said...

Our daughter also made her First Holy Communion at age 13 and per the dress code had to wear the cloth diaper and rubberpants under her communion dress and it back fired! She liked wearing them under her dress and feeling pure like the little girls and when she was the flower girl in her nieces wedding 5 months later,she wanted to wear the diaper and rubberpants under her flower girl dress,so i put them on her.Then she wore them under her christmas dress and her easter dress and now she is almost 15 and still likes wearing them for holidays and special occasions!

Anonymous said...

I am 15 and finially made my First Holy Communion this past may 20 with the 2nd and 3rd graders and my parents embarrassed the heck out of me! They made me wear a poofy,sleeveless,top of the knees communion dress with the matching veil,lace socks and white patent leather shoes.If that wasnt embarrassing enough,they made me wear a size 8 pampers cruiser diaper with toddler xxl size rubberpants over it and a camisole under the dress! I felt very weird walking down the aisle with the pampers and rubberpants on under my dress!

Anonymous said...

I went to a cousins First Holy Communion in Boston last may.Their parish is quite large and had two classes-one for the 7 to 12 year olds and the other was 13 to 17 year olds.Being 15,my cousin was in the older class.All of the girls had to wear short sleeve,puffy,top of the knees communion dresses with matching veils,lace anklets and white 'mary jane'shoes.A cloth diaper and plastic pants and white tee shirt had to be worn under their dresses.The cousin had blousy fitting plastic pants over her diaper and they crinkled when she walked.I was quite a site seeing the 16 and 17 year old girls in her class in the outfits!

Anonymous said...

Much has been made on these pages of young girls wearing protective undergarments on the occasion of their confirmation into the Roman Catholic church. What many have come to informally refer to as the “Roman Catholic Diaper Ritual” has a basis in fact dating back to the 1920s and was of U.S. origin. What is known as the “Rite of Reaffirmation of Innocence and Purity” grew out of a reaction in the 1920s to concerns of American Catholic parents over the perceived decline in morals among young women. These included a fear of young girls being tempted into “lewd and immoral acts,” imbibition of alcoholic beverages, smoking, and the reading of pornographic literature or Protestant religious tracts (deemed to be the one and the same).
No one can pinpoint exactly where the idea of the ritual originated, but reports of early unauthorized forms of such a rite appeared in the records of several Roman Catholic churches in the traditionally conservative U.S. Midwest, particularly in Minnesota and Wisconsin. What began as a movement in local parishes soon spread to other states and higher levels in the Church. By 1935 the “purity” movement had grown to such an extent that a group of U.S. Cardinals persuaded Pope Pius XI to codify this ritual into Canon Law which he willingly did that year. The Holy Father’s proclamation “De Incunabula Sanctus” was read to U.S. parish congregations in 1936.
Essentially the rite was established to reaffirm a young girl’s innocence and purity as it existed in infancy before any exposure to temptation or corruption. A girl from that year’s confirmation class, deemed to be the “purest” of the class, would be selected to be ritually diapered on the altar by a high Church official. This could be done by a priest (but he would at least have to have had the title of “Monsignor” bestowed upon him) or a higher cleric. The young girl (wearing a small brief-like garment for modesty’s sake) was assisted onto the altar where a pristine white diaper was removed from a sterile container, held up to the congregation, sprinkled with holy water, and then pinned onto the girl by the priest with the assistance of two altar boys (girls may now perform this function in contemporary services). A pair of “milky white” rubber (or plastic) pants were then put on her and she was declared to be as pure in the eyes of Mother Church as she was on the day of her conception. In emulation and support of the diapered candidate, all other girls to be confirmed that day would be wearing diapers and rubber pants underneath their confirmation dresses.
When the rite was being formalized in Rome the first drafts were written in Italian. The ritual called for the girl to be wearing “pannolini” (in this case, cloth diapers) and “mutandine di gomma” (rubber panties). Clerical scholars held that there could be NO VARIATION of the “elements” of the purification ritual which is why, to this day, cloth diapers and “rubberpants” are mandatory (disposable diapers or pullups may not be substituted). Even though this rite is a part of authorized Church ritual, its use is optional and still largely confined to Midwest parishes and other minor parishes scattered across the country.
I hope this clarifies the matter to some extent.

Anonymous said...

This business about diapers and rubber pants under girls communion dresses is nonsense. The only reason girls should wear diapers and plastic panties under dresses (communion or otherwise) is if they have very poor bladder control and cannot help wetting themselves. Then they should wear them to avoid embarrassing themselves or staining their clothing. One of my neices is 14 and delayed and she wears them for that reason.