Preparation of deaf and hard-of-hearing youth for the sacrament of Confirmation: the role of family, school and parish

Abstract

Confirmation is the sacrament of Christian initiation, which crowns many years of work and preparation aimed at helping young people to shape a mature faith. The process of preparation also applies to young people with special needs – deaf and hard of hearing youth. Currently adopted guidelines do not take into account the needs of this group of people with disabilities, which certainly affects the quality of activities they can engage with, compared to those conducted by the hearing youth. The role of the family, school and parish for this group of candidates is limited. There are many reasons for this state of affairs that have been addressed in the present paper. The article presents the preparation of hearing-impaired youth for accepting the sacrament of Confirmation and the role of the three most important environments through which preparation activities are carried out that help young people understand what Confirmation is and how to best prepare for this sacrament. The article shows examples and effects of such activities in the family, school and parish that could contribute to the introduction of a better model of preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation for the deaf and hard of hearing youth.