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- Rite practised by a number of Christian
- denominations, including Roman Catholic,
- Anglican, and Orthodox, in which a previously
- baptized person is admitted to full
- membership of the church. In Reform Judaism
- there is often a confirmation service several
- years after the bar or bat mitzvah
- (initiation into the congregation). Christian
- confirmation is believed to give the
- participant the gift of the Holy Spirit. In
- the Anglican church it consists in the laying
- on of hands by a bishop, while in the Roman
- Catholic and Orthodox churches the
- participant is anointed with oil. Except in
- the Orthodox churches, where infant
- confirmation is usual, the rite takes place
- around early adolescence. Until recently a
- child preparing for confirmation was required
- to learn by heart a series of questions and
- answers known as a catechism.
-