We know that parents and guardians are looking to know dates for the celebration of First Confessions, Communions and Confirmations and while we would love to be able to give clarity we have to adhere to the public health and Diocesan guidelines which are in place.
The current advise from www.gov.ie is that Sacrament celebrations should NOT take place in May or June, as shown below.
From 10 May
It is advised that other religious ceremonies such as First Holy Communions and Confirmations should not take place in May and June. Further advice will follow on resumption of these ceremonies when it is safe to do so
gov.ie – New public health measures announced: The Path Ahead (www.gov.ie)
The following is from a letter from Archbishop Dermot Farrell on 30th April
For that reason, celebrations of the sacraments may not take place and dates for celebrations should not be proposed until parishes are notified that it is appropriate to do so. I envisage that engagement with the public authorities will enable the position to be reviewed in due course.
–
When ceremonies can be celebrated, priority will be given to First Holy Communion and Confirmation deferred from 2020. While celebrations of the sacrament of Confirmation for candidates from the current year may be able to take place over the summer, I believe that, regrettably, it is appropriate and necessary that celebration of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion for 2021 candidates should be deferred until the autumn.
Letter from Archbishop Dermot Farrell on 30th April 2021
We have children who were originally scheduled to make their First Penance and Communion last summer who have had their ceremonies rescheduled a number of times already and so our priority will be to schedule these children first when public health and the Diocese indicate it is safe to do so.
After that we will look towards scheduling the ceremonies for the current 6th class Confirmation children and the 2nd class First Communion children. With all that has happened in the last year we want to be in a position to make sure that we follow the public health advice. We also want to try to ensure that planned dates we plan can go ahead so we don’t end up repeatedly having to reschedule ceremonies as happened last year.
