Confirmations, Receptions & Reaffirmations

Confirmations, Receptions and Reaffirmations take place at the Cathedral for the Diocese on the Saturday following Easter at 11:00 each year. For more information on preparing for one of these rites, please contact Canon Jamie McElroy at the Cathedral office or by email at jmcelory@spcathedral.com.

The Episcopal Church recognizes all baptized with water and in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as members of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Those whose baptisms have been registered in the Episcopal Church are considered baptized members. Upon reaching 16 years of age, baptized members are considered adult members.

•  A person seeking to join the Episcopal Church from another Christian church, if that person has been baptized with water and in the name of the Trinity, may become a baptized member of the Episcopal Church by having their baptism duly recorded in this church. It is expected that all adult members of the Episcopal Church will be confirmed or received at some point.
•  Baptized persons who have received the laying-on of hands at Confirmation by a Bishop in apostolic succession should be considered baptized and confirmed and may therefore be received by a Bishop in this church. “Bishops in apostolic succession” includes the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox (although in the Eastern Orthodox Church lay persons do not receive the laying-on of hands by a bishop, they are anointed at baptism by a presbyter using oil consecrated by the bishop), and Polish National Catholic Church (a church formerly in full communion).
• Baptized persons who have been confirmed or received by Bishops in communion with this church should be received, not confirmed. Bishops in communion with this church include other Bishops of the Anglican Communion, Bishops of churches resulting from the union of Anglicans with other churches (the Church of Bangladesh, the Church of North India, the Church of South India, and the Church of Pakistan), Bishops of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht, the Philippine Independent Church, and the Mar Thoma Church of Malabar.
• Baptized persons may also be received by laying-on of hands of a Bishop rather than being confirmed, if such persons have previously made adult affirmations of faith in their own traditions. Baptized persons who have not made such adult affirmations in their own traditions may be confirmed in this church. The decision for confirmation or reception is a pastoral one, to be made by the Bishop in consultation with the person's priest.