A Eucharistic Passport. At first I thought it must be a joke. I soon discovered it was anything but, and that it wasn’t isolated to one eccentric parish priest. The idea is catching on, big time.

It starts from the best of intentions. Many priests are worried about the increasing lack of attendance of Catholic children at Mass, especially those preparing for the sacraments.

This is not a new phenomenon and it applies equally to children who attend Catholic schools and those who go elsewhere. So some priests now require children to prove that they have attended several Masses before they are able to receive Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.

The biblical 12 seems to be emerging as the agreed number of mandated Masses. The children have to get their passports – which often carry a photo – signed and dated by the priest at the end of Mass. One priest demanded that all 12 Masses had to be in his parish, but when three quarters of the prospective candidates failed to fulfil this requirement, he relented and issued visas permitting them to travel to other parishes. It’s still not working.

Priests have got this idea from another canonically illegal act – making attendance at baptismal preparation classes an absolute prerequisite for that sacrament. I entirely support the best preparation possible for every sacrament, and I have seen how these sessions can be the beginning of the renewal of faith, but it’s wrong to make attendance at these classes mandatory.