Defend, O Lord, your Servant: Letters to a Bishop from 105 Young People at Confirmation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article will explore 105 letters to their bishop written by young persons around the age of 11 years as they prepared for Confirmation. All letters were received by the Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador over five Confirmation services at the Parish of All Saints just outside St John’s in the Town of Foxtrap in Conception Bay South between 2014 and 2018. It has been the policy of the parish (but not the diocese) that young persons will write a letter to the bishop prior to Confirmation. The analysis of these letters show that Confirmation can continue to have great meaning and value for young people in churches where it also has great meaning and value for church leaders. The letters challenge adults to take seriously the spiritual lives of young people and reveal that they are not mere imitators of their parents’ faith but actively working out their own faith in ways appropriate for them.