Church Gives Seal of Holy Spirit to 5,000 Children in Sydney, Australia

The Catholic Church in Sydney has conducted a Confirmation ceremony en masse at the Superdome to rival a Hillsong-style evangelical revival meeting, on 22 May 2005.

As the two Hillsong churches in Sydney drew 18,000 congregants to services, the Catholic Church filled thousands of seats in the auditorium which included a white cross on the stage floor and television screen relays.

Around 5,000 Catholic children were initiated into the church publicly, watched by 30,000 parents, sponsors and friends. Confirmation is the third sacrament of initiation which symbolises the acceptance of children into the church as adults. Baptism and Holy Communion come before this ceremony.

Usually, Confirmations are conducted in the parish church as they are intimate religious affairs. However, all Confirmations for the diocese, excluding a few parishes, were held over two ceremonies in one day.

According to Catholic archbishop Cardinal George Pell, the purpose was to allow youngsters to taste being part of something bigger than their parish.

"I pray this sacrament will deepen your sense of belonging to your parish, to your Catholic school community," Cardinal Pell said in his homily. "This communal celebration involving many parishes should also strengthen your sense of being part of the archdiocese of Sydney."

Catholic children aged 10-12 were given the seal of the Holy Spirit by priests that gathered at the foot of the white cross in a circle. Each child had name tags with the name of their favourite saint. They were wearing their best Sunday clothes. The foreheads of each Confirmation candidate was daubed by anointing oil.