MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, head of the Catholic Archdio-cese for the military services, visited the Station Chapel Monday, to conduct a confirmation mass for eight Station Catholics.
The Sacrament of Confirmation, a laying on the hands to bestow the Holy Spirit, is Christianity’s basic teaching of an initiation into the Christian life.
“The principal reason I came to Iwakuni was to confirm some of the people here who have decided to be more fully involved with the Catholic Church,” said O’Brien. “My visit was a great chance to meet parish leadership and the rest of the community as well.”
There are only four rite archbishops providing their Catholic services to the armed forces, and they are the only personnel with the privileges to perform a confirmation mass.
“I think it was really important that he came over here because there are so many people here who want and need to know that they can be a part of the Catholic faith no matter where they are in the world and that it is still important,” said Luis Pena Jr., one of the eight individuals who were confirmed.
The confirmation consisted of the candidates standing in front of the archbishop to renew their baptismal promises. Then the candidates kneeled for the laying on of the hands. Lastly, the anointing with Chrism, a mixture of oil, olives and balsam that is blessed by a bishop and used in the certain sacraments, occurs where the candidates approached the bishop with their sponsor.
“I thought the confirmation was really special with the archbishop being here to take our level of Catholicism up a notch as adults within the Catholic community,” said Pena.
The confirmation mass was a ceremony with different purposes, to welcome people into the Catholic faith and to remind others who may be spiritually lost about the importance of living the Christian life.
“A ceremony like this is a reminder that God is ready to help us if we open our hearts to him,” said O’Brien. “I hope the people who attended the confirmation had their own sense of faith enlightened and that they realize that we can all do more and be better. I think that seeing the eight people confirmed was a good reminder to the rest of us here that we have responsibilities to live a fuller Christian life that maybe, we’re not quite living up to.”