A myriad of health conditions resulting in his being tube-fed since he was three months old have prevented him from consuming the Eucharist.

Nonetheless, Gannucci has always wanted to be able to receive the Body of Christ.

And so he did - on 3 June this year, just before he turned 21. It is the only solid food he has ever consumed.

Practice and prayer

For Gannucci, to swallow the Eucharist required a year's practice and a lot of prayer each day with his family.

Father Richard Kunst has known Gannucci all his life.  He prepared him for his first Reconciliation two years ago and recognises Gannucci's faith.

Gannucci, who also has a learning disability, impressed Kunst with his longing to receive the Eucharist.

His grasp of the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host was impressive, Kunst told the National Catholic Register.

His hunger for Jesus in the Eucharist continued to grow. His first reconciliation and his niece's first Communion saw him arguing his case harder.

Supportive family

"Paul has a very simple faith" his father told the Register.

"He has great trust. We had been wanting Paul to receive all the sacraments for years, and we put it in God's hands to determine when that time would come. Our whole family trusted that Jesus would make this happen."

Night after night for months, his father gave him a little water and a fragment of unconsecrated wafer Kunst had provided.

Initially he would gag and retch even over that tiny piece, his father said.

Eventually he was reliably able to swallow an entire host.

An inspiration

Gannucci also wanted to be confirmed. After checking with his bishop, Kunst was permitted to administer this sacrament.

He chose a patron saint - "Padre Pio" - St Pio of Pietrelcina.

He celebrated his first Communion and confirmation with his immediate family, many extended family members and about 45 weekday Mass attendees.

When Kunst explained the unfolding events to the weekday congregants they were delighted. Some wept when Gannucci received the sacraments.

Later, several spoke of relatives unable to receive the Eucharist because of physical limitations.

"This gives them hope that maybe this can happen for their family member as well" his mother said.

His father hopes his son's story will impact other Catholics.

"The biggest thing is that it is truly Jesus that we are receiving" he said.

"So many Catholics nowadays don't even believe in that — when they have such a great treasure! We know how important it is to receive Jesus. Other people maybe will rethink it if they don't believe in the True Presence."

Kunst hopes "Paul's story and his earnest desire for this will inspire people, including those of us who might take it for granted because we receive it all the time. God's timing is perfect".

Gannucci now receives the Eucharist whenever possible. It remains the only solid food he consumes.

Source

• National Catholic Register

Father Smith smiles and says, "Don't worry. I have found the perfect solution. I had the bishop come to confirm the bats . . . and they never returned!"

Unfortunately this joke is as sad as it is funny: It accurately reflects the experience of so many pastoral ministers in the United States.

Confirmation—when celebrated during the teenage years as a rite of Christian "maturity"—often marks the moment when adolescents set aside their faith practices, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

In September 2015 the Pew Research Center reported the sobering statistic that more than half of adults raised Catholic have left the church at some point in their lives. Although a significant number of these Catholics eventually return, 4 in 10 do not. In another September 2015 article, "U.S. Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families," the Pew Research Center reported that nearly one tenth of the U.S. population is made up of former Catholics—many of whom likely have been confirmed.

Despite this reality, many pastors and youth ministers genuinely fear that if confirmation is conferred at another time—say, at the moment of first communion—an even higher percentage of young people will be lost to the church.

They contend that two- to three-year confirmation programs that require attendance at catechism classes and service projects seem to keep at least a percentage of young people engaged with the church through their teen years.

It is time to openly acknowledge that this approach to the sacrament of confirmation—that it is a "mature decision" on the part of adolescents to live as committed members of the church—is no longer working.

Instead this approach to confirmation seems to mark the end of catechetical instruction, serving for many as a "graduation" from the practice of the faith. The reasons for this are historical as well as pastoral and theological. Continue reading

• Father Mark R. Francis, C.S.V. is superior general of the Clerics of St. Viator in Rome.