First Reconciliation to come before First Communion

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Within the next two years all parishes will be offering first Confession before First Communion. Archbishop Thomas Collins said he asked the priests of the archdiocese to reverse the practice in order to bring the order of the two sacraments in harmony with the universal Church.

He said the order of the sacraments in the Catholic Church has traditionally been Reconciliation before Holy Eucharist. "I know when I was a kid that's what we did. I went to first Confession and then First Communion," he said.

But he said that practice got reversed in some places around the 1970s "out of a worthy desire to respond to a certain understanding of the way children learn. So that was very understandable."

The practice became fairly common throughout Canada, including many parishes in the Edmonton Archdiocese.

But the archbishop says the time has come to correct the situation and start offering first Confession first. "The reason for this is that throughout our lives we do need to approach the Holy Eucharist with a heart that is at peace with God," he said.

"It is not necessary to go to Confession every time one receives Holy Communion, nevertheless it is certainly important that a person be at peace with the Lord before receiving Holy Communion and the most powerful way in which we do that is though the sacrament of Reconciliation."

Collins noted that the Code of Canon Law of 1983 makes it clear that the proper order of the sacraments is first Reconciliation and then First Communion. "This is also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says that the order to follow is first Reconciliation and then First Communion. And many documents of the Holy See have stressed this order of first Reconciliation and then First Communion."

Reversing the practice will require the involvement of schools and parishes, which prepare the children together. Schools offer background preparation on the sacraments and parishes offer what the archbishop termed immediate preparation.

Collins was expecting the reversal of the practice to be completed this year but said parishes might take more time.

Recently he sent out a memo extending the deadline and he now expects the practice to be completely reversed within two years. Most parishes are already offering Reconciliation before First Communion but some still have to get things corrected.

"We always have to be looking at our practices to be sure that they are in harmony with the universal Church," Collins said. "And from time to time we get out of harmony for various reasons quite innocently. But we need always to check and double check. And that's a constant process."

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