Are First Holy Communion celebrations worth all the drama and cost, and are they actually creating a generation of mass goers or is it simply about the cash for kids?

Communion season is set to begin soon, and with costs on the rise, questions have been raised about what exactly is being celebrated in the modern age.

Freelance journalist and mother of two Niamh O’Reilly, whose son recently made his Communion, told The Pat Kenny Show that “there is a vibe of the mini wedding about Communions in general”.

“I would advise any parents who are currently planning Communions stay off social media,” she said.

“Don’t search hashtag Communion because you’re going to be left feeling like you haven’t done enough and that everybody else is splashing out on huge events.

“I’m talking things like balloon arches and charcuterie boards and bottles of prosecco and not just bouncy castles but sort of like obstacle course style bouncy castles.”

Catholic First Holy Communion ceremony.

Ms O’Reilly described her family as “lapse Catholics” who would usually only attend mass for big events, but said she tried to impress on her son that he was making a commitment to the Church.

“All of his older cousins would have made their Communion, so he was very aware of a Communion, and I suppose what attracted him to it – like a lot of children – it it’s a day out,” she said.

“It’s a celebration of you; you get fancy new clothes, you get some money, you get to go out maybe for a nice lunch, all of those things. [...]

“It's a way to get a lot of money very quickly, and I hate to reduce it to that, so that was definitely an element for my son.

“I think because we had to go to the effort of organising it ourselves, I sort of said to him, ‘Look, if you want to make your Communion that’s fine, I’ll do my best to make it happen, but we’re not just going to go for prep and the day and never darken the door again’.”

Focus on guilt

However, Ms O’Reilly said she felt there was a lot of focus on guilt throughout the Communion preparations.

“I just felt at seven and eight, children are just children, they’re very innocent,” she said.

“They haven’t really done anything that’s warranted of them feeling so guilty about themselves. [...]

“He did his first confession, and it was sort of by himself, so he went up after mass to talk to the priest; he was like a deer in the headlights.

“He went up and he hadn’t a clue what to say, I don’t know what he said in the end, something like, ‘I was mean to my brother’ or something – nothing that would be warranted of 10 Hail Mary’s or whatever it was.”

Ms O’Reilly wondered what effect this focus on guilt could have on children but said that “equally it could just go over their heads”.

Main image: Catholic boys and girls receiving the sacrament of first holy communion.