"Children and Communion"

In the late nineteen-eighties, the House of Bishops set up a committee with a fairly broad membership to report to it on the issue of children and communion. In the light of this report, the bishops then felt that the time was not right for a change in the traditional discipline whereby children do not receive communion until after they have been confirmed. They did however state that there was no doctrinal objection to a change in this practice.

In 1991, a Select Committee was formed by the General Synod to examine ".. the theological, pastoral and practical implications of changing the present discipline of the Church of Ireland so as to permit those who are baptised but not yet confirmed to receive Holy Communion". Although the Select Committee reported to General Synod in 1993 and in subsequent years, it proved impossible to reach a general consensus on the matter, and the Committee retired.

At the General Synod of 1999, a private member's motion was passed, requesting the bishops of the Church of Ireland to address once again this issue of children and communion, and to give guidance and leadership to the Church on the issue. The bishops have discussed this matter on a number of occasions in the intervening period, and now wish to notify the synod of their conclusions, in outline.

We believe that the starting point for all discussion on the issue of children and Communion is the sacrament of Baptism. We are of course aware that the Church of Ireland has for centuries encompassed a variety of beliefs on the nature of Baptism (as is made explicit in the preface to the 1878 Book of Common Prayer). We would however suggest that there are a number of strands held in common throughout the Church (in addition to the outward rites), which perhaps suggest a way forward in this particular matter. Inter alia -

• Baptism confers membership of the Christian Church and is unrepeatable.
  
• Nothing which may follow Baptism adds to the status of an individual's membership of the Church.
  
• Baptism is in the name of the Trinity and it is therefore relational in its very nature.
  
• Baptism implies the necessity for growth, for nurture and - ultimately - for personal responsibility within, and testimony to, the Christian faith.

Baptism therefore points to Confirmation.

Baptism points also to the receiving of the Holy Communion.

But Baptism does not of itself imply a particular sequence to these events.

The discipline whereby admission to Communion was to follow Confirmation was introduced into the western Church as late as the thirteenth century. There is clearly, as was noted ten years ago by the bishops, no doctrinal barrier to members of the Church receiving Holy Communion before Confirmation. There may well be cultural or pastoral reasons why this may seem inexpedient in certain settings within the Church of Ireland. The Church is however having to live with diversity in this area today, particularly in situations where inter-church families have an active involvement in the worship of our Church, or where there are families familiar with different Anglican disciplines in the matter. We would wish that this diversity be acknowledged and, if possible, given a proper structure.

At next year's General Synod, the House of Bishops will therefore propose the following rubric, as a replacement for the current rubric on the matter, presently at the conclusion of the Confirmation service: "It is intended in Baptism, that those who have been baptised will be confirmed. They may, however, be admitted to the Holy Communion prior to Confirmation."

The introduction of this legislation will give General Synod the opportunity to debate the issue. We would however emphasise that this principle would always presuppose a full understanding of the nature of the Sacrament, and would equally demand adequate teaching, spiritual nurture and pastoral care of the children of the Church.