Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church and completes Baptism by strengthening the baptized with the Holy Spirit. Through the anointing with sacred chrism and the words, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit,"-ordinarily spoken by a bishop-the grace of Pentecost is renewed in the life of the believer. Rooted in the Apostles' laying on of hands (cf. Acts 8:15-17), Confirmation unites the recipient more firmly to Christ and the Church. Like Baptism and Holy Orders, it leaves an indelible spiritual mark on the soul and is therefore received only once. The sacrament prepares the faithful to live, profess, and defend the faith with courage. Through Confirmation, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are strengthened, fostering spiritual maturity and readiness for public witness. It deepens communion with the Church and configures the person more closely to Christ as prophet, priest, and king. Sealed by the Spirit, the confirmed are called to be true witnesses of Christ, spreading the Gospel by word and deed.
Because the one to be Confirmed will be sent out "to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross," the idea is to choose the name of a saint who can help fulfill this mission. Sometimes, we choose the saint because of his or her patronage, because of the name itself, because of a common personality, or because of his or her story. Sometimes, though, it also seems a saint, as it were, chooses us. Whatever the case, choosing the name of saint is a way of placing oneself under the patronage of this particular friend of God, of seeking to imitate this person who imitated Christ, and of seeking the prayers and guidance of this saint (cf. I Corinthians 11:1). This practice also mirrors the biblical pattern in which God gives individuals a new name - such as Abram to Abraham or Simon to Peter - to signify a deeper identity and mission entrusted to them by God.
Confirming children in third grade and having First Holy Communion come after Confirmation is what's called the "restored order" of the sacraments. For about the first 1,800 years of the Church, it was always the practice to first confirm new members and then welcome them to receive Communion. This practice has held for adults, which you see in the practice of OCIA. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly affirms the proper sequence in paragraph 1322: "The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation."
So, the real question is not why we would lower the age of Confirmation, but rather what have we gained by deferring it to a later age like eighth grade? The facts in this regard are eye-opening. Consider that nearly 80 percent of all fallen away Catholics were never confirmed, and the average age of Catholics falling away from the faith is 13 years old. By deferring the age of Confirmation, we have deprived these children of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation. We will never know what might have otherwise happened for them.
Given what our children are confronting in society, why would we delay the grace of Confirmation - a grace that can protect them from those dangers. Our children are facing an unprecedented barrage of threats to their emotional well-being and moral clarity. Deferring Confirmation deprives our children of special graces that can help them withstand the spiritual challenges of this new reality. Further, deferring Confirmation until they are already swimming in these waters also increases the likelihood that they will experience barriers to the sacramental grace. Therefore, delaying Confirmation is a double-edged sword: It deprives our children of grace they badly need at a younger age; and it likely decreases the effectiveness of the sacrament in their lives.
If an 8-year-old is able to understand enough about the Eucharist - that the bread and wine are changed with the words of consecration and become the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ - and be properly disposed to receive the Eucharist reverently, then it seems reasonable that he or she is also able to understand what it means when we teach that the Holy Spirit gives seven gifts to be used in faith. In fact, this is why the Church established the "age of reason" as the appropriate normal age for reception of the sacraments of initiation.
Quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catechism of the Catholic Church wisely reminds us that "age of body does not determine age of soul. Even in childhood, man can attain spiritual maturity: as the book of Wisdom says: 'For old age is not honored for length of time or measured by number of years' (4:8). Many children, through the strength of the Holy Spirit they have received, have bravely fought for Christ even to the shedding of their blood" (CCC, 1308).
This question points to a couple points of misunderstanding regarding the sacrament of Confirmation. The first over-emphasizes the action of the confirmandi in the sacrament, and the second mistakenly views Confirmation as a sort of graduation from faith formation. In other words, in Confirmation, no one is "confirming their faith." Paragraph 1308 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."
It is certainly important that recipients of the sacraments be properly disposed and prepared to receive the sacraments. As noted above, however, there is a very high probability that a third-grader is more open, receptive, and properly disposed to this sacramental grace than an eighth-grader. Conversely, it is more likely that an eighth-grader faces greater obstacles to grace. The Church has deemed the age of reason to be the age of 7.
This change has been encouraged by both Pope Benedict XVI and by Pope Francis, and many dioceses have already made the change or are considering it. In the United States, more than a dozen dioceses have implemented the restored order, including Phoenix, Denver, and Spokane.