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It's a Small World

San Jose Diocese Holds Confirmation Extravaganza

By Joe Marti

Compaq Center, home of the San Jose Sharks hockey team, played host on Sunday, May 27 to about 2,300 teens to receive the sacrament of confirmation. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the diocese of San Jose, Confirmation 2001: Alive in the Spirit was also the largest in its history; the head count numbered about 17,000. While some might have expected this to be a solemn occasion to reflect on the grace of God and the transition from spiritual adolescence to adulthood, the organizers had a different vision. In planning for nearly a year, the event was supposed to reflect the exuberance felt over the new millennium and the anniversary of the diocese. It was intended to raise awareness of the Catholic Church among people as yet unfamiliar with her message both in the neighborhood and beyond. To that end, participants raised $34,000 over the last year to benefit the poor in El Salvador, the San Jose Family Shelter and the Emergency Housing Consortium, and the event prominently featured traditional dance from an assortment of cultures around the world, lending a decidedly different air to the proceedings.

According to the confirmation coordinator of one parish who wished not to be identified, the event often befuddled her teenagers. "The good part of it was that we have such an absolutely magnificent mix of people here," she said, "so it was wonderful to see these native people doing their thing. It was moving to see that display." However, she felt that the occasion lacked a solemnity that she had prepared her candidates for. Her first indication that this confirmation ceremony would be different came last month when she attended a 'Spirit Rally', a pre-confirmation gathering designed to "pump the kids up" and featured a priest helping out in a rock band playing music chosen by an 'executive youth committee'. She commented, "I'm not the kind to second-guess the bishop. But this just really made me sit back and wonder what this thing was going to be about."

The event started with what was called the 'World Festival' that featured an assortment of ethnic groups displaying their native skills at jumping between sticks and dancing in loincloths. The idea was to highlight diverse backgrounds of the Santa Clara valley. One group featured the Mexico Tenochtitlan Azteca Dance Group; a description of the dance came from Aztec Maestro Andres Segura, "Dancing the sacred dances imparts very precise rhythmic patterns into your nervous system. It tunes you in with deep essential levels of who you really are. When you begin to resonate with these rhythms, you can access states of being that go far beyond your ordinary reality. They can help you restructure and repattern your consciousness in very profound ways."

The Mass and confirmation began with a procession of the Aztec dancers, who surrounded the altar at one point. Off to the side a rock band with a choir back-up began singing modern music, some of it written for the event. The band director, wearing a bright yellow 'happy face' T-shirt, encouraged the crowd to perform hand gestures while chanting 'Yes, Lord, yes, Lord' over and over. One man was witnessed leaving the event before the confirmation even started, vowing to write a letter to the bishop over his disappointment in the ceremony. Floor-side, a young man named Ryan came as a sponsor to a confirmation candidate. "The music and the people running the thing were so lame," he explained, "This guy kept trying to get everyone to make these hand gestures. He said something like, 'If you're really Catholic, you'll be participating. If you don't participate, you'll look really stupid.' My candidate turned and asked me, 'Is this the confirmation?'

However, not everybody was disappointed. Anthony Estrada, 17, felt that the event did a lot for his faith. He said, "I really liked everything, especially the Mexican dancers. There was a lot to keep you interested, and it's cool to think that I've got a higher relationship with God now. It was awesome."

As the prayers were being said in different languages, a stirring occurred in the crowd. It was time for the gospel, and bringing the sacramentary to the altar was a man who held it high above his head and performed an erratic modern dance all the way up to and around the pulpit. The bishop of San Jose, Patrick McGrath, saw all of this as a sign of things to come. In the program, he wrote, "Despite our diversity, today we come together as one people ... as one holy, catholic Church." He wrote later in the document that "We have every reason to feel proud, joyful, and at peace for our future."

According to Ryan, the occasion was a memorable one for another reason. "There was never any silence throughout the entire thing. Candidates were talking to each other throughout the entire proceeding, and when it came time to go up and be confirmed, a girl passed me her phone number."

The confirmation coordinator mentioned above echoed Ryan's observation about the constant activity and noise. She said, "At no time during this Mass was there ever an opportunity to kneel. When [my group] knelt on the floor during the consecration, the people next to them asked them what they were doing."

Any candidate under the age of eighteen was required to attend the event. The only other venue, the Basilica of St. Joseph, was open only to those candidates over the age of eighteen who had additionally petitioned to avoid the Shark Tank confirmation. Due to this requirement, at least eighteen candidates out of seventy-five from one parish bowed out of the event.

The anonymous coordinator reflected on the event, "I guess I just remember confirmation as a tearful, I've-been-touched-by-God sort of experience and now I'm not ever going to be the same. This was not like that."

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