Confirmation class

Can I just say that love being a Confirmation catechist? No matter rubbish my day is, the kids in my class always make me feel better.

We've been plugging the Bright Lights festival to them for the past couple of weeks. As part of our confirmation programme, we've been watching Plugged In. And they love it. So when I told them that Fr. Stan Fortuna (who is heavily featured in Plugged In) was going to be a Bright Lights, some of them got really excited.

But today, one girl (whom I'll call 'A') was really upset. Her Dad has booked tickets for the family summer holiday, which means that she can't make Bright Lights. Gutted is not the word to describe her. She was discussing strategies with her mates as to how she could 'persuade' her Dad to change to tickets, leave her behind, almost anything - just so she could come to Bright Lights to meet Fr. Stan. What's more, her mates were as serious. These kids are really looking forward to going camping at a Catholic Youth Festival for a weekend in the summer.

As much as these kids are ignored and written off by our parish community, they take everything we talk about in class seriously and are making it part of their lives. Two of the girls in my group told me how they stood up for Jesus when their friends at school were taking the mickey. One of the boys quoted me a story from Sunday's sermon (he had taken it so much to heart that he couldn't remember where he had heard it). And they can laugh at what needs to be laughed at as well. They are so exciting to be around. They could teach us all so much.