Admission to holy communion for children and young people

We are now offering the opportunity for children and young people to be admitted to holy communion before they have been confirmed. Admission to holy communion is open to all children and young people in the parish who are in year 3 and above, have been baptised and who attend church regularly.

We are planning to admit the first group of children and young people at special morning services at St Saviour’s and St Paul’s on Sunday 6th November. Before that we are holding two preparation classes for the young people and at least one parent. The classes are on 9th and 16th October 3.00-5.00 at St Paul’s and they would need to attend both sessions.

If you and your child would like them to be admitted to holy communion, or you would like to find out more, the first step is to register your interest. You can do that by signing-up on Church Suite by following the link, or by searching for Admission to Communion on the events page. This will add you to the mailing list and make sure you get all the relevant information. It does not commit your child to admission, they and you can decide after you’ve taken the classes, if that suits you better.

You do need to be baptised to receive holy communion in the Church of England. If your child has not been baptised we would be very happy to discuss with you what is the right thing for your child.  This could include being baptised in the same service where they are then admitted to holy communion.

Admission to holy communion before confirmation is a new thing for the Parish of Herne Hill, though other parishes in the diocese have been doing it since the 1970’s. If you would like to know more about why the PCC decided this was the right thing for the parish, you can read about their thinking here.

If you have any questions and comments about this please do speak to or otherwise contact any member of the clergy team. Any of us would be very happy to to discuss.