Confirmation students from around the diocese were invited to join the women and men who had been received into the Catholic Church at Easter for Mass on Pentecost Sunday with Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, on May 31. In addition to greetings from their bishop, they heard words of welcome from Msgr. Stanley Deptula, director of the diocesan Office of Divine Worship, and Dr. Vincent McClean, director of the diocesan Office of Catechetics.

Bishop Jenky said the Easter sacraments that the new Catholics and confirmands had celebrated were dependent on the Holy Spirit.

“Remember that except for the breath of the Holy Spirit, baptism would just be water,” he told them. “Confirmation would just be olive oil, the Eucharist would just be bread and wine, and reconciliation would be mere words of encouragement.

“But it is the breath of the Holy Spirit that causes the sacraments to effect — to make happen — what they signify,” Bishop Jenky explained.

Sacraments aren’t just something to be celebrated, however. He emphasized that they must be used “to win the whole world for Jesus Christ.”

This is the first year that confirmands have been invited to St. Mary’s Cathedral on Pentecost. It was done in response to the students and their families who wanted a picture with Bishop Jenky, especially if they were not confirmed by him, according to Christopher Kreps, administrative assistant to the bishop.

He said that in any given year there are 40 to 60 confirmations, including those celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

“It becomes difficult to fill all the (confirmation) requests because there are not enough days,” Kreps explained.

When that happens, monsignors around the diocese are invited to step in and help Bishop Jenky. Among those who have been given the mandate or permission to confirm are Msgr. William Watson, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Peoria Heights and president of Peoria Notre Dame High School; Msgr. Paul Showalter, vicar general of the Diocese of Peoria, rector of St. Mary’s Cathedral, and pastor of St. Bernard’s and St. Peter’s, Peoria; Msgr. Albert Hallin, pastor of St. Boniface, Seymour, and St. Joseph’s, Ivesdale; Msgr. Douglas Hennessy, pastor of Holy Trinity, Bloomington; Msgr. Thomas Mack, pastor of St. Mary’s, Pontiac, St. Joseph’s, Flanagan, and St. John’s Cullom; and Msgr. J. Brian Rejsek, episcopal vicar for Hispanic ministry and pastor of St. Joseph’s, Marseilles.

In the future, those who have been confirmed during the year will be invited to the cathedral for the Pentecost celebration with the Diocese of Peoria’s new Catholics, Kreps said.