Groton Hosts Regional Confirmation

On Sunday, May 5, St. John’s Chapel filled with visitors from seven Massachusetts congregations for the confirmation of thirty-five people from around the area, including three confirmands from Groton School. Punctuating an already joyful service was the baptism of a faculty child.

Confirmation, a spiritual coming of age and a confession of faith, continues a process begun during baptism. “Confirmands claim the baptismal vows made on their behalf by their parents and godparents,” said the Reverend Christopher Whiteman, Groton’s chaplain.

During the service, Headmaster Temba Maqubela delivered the first reading, from Isaiah, and a deacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, the Reverend Ruthann Savage-King, read from the Gospel.

The Right Reverend Gayle Harris, the bishop suffragan of the Diocese—who spoke at Groton during Martin Luther King, Jr. Day last year—inspired with insights about the mystery of faith and the beauty of accepting that mystery. More important than knowing all the answers, she stressed, is the commitment to strive for justice and love.

Just before the confirmation, Virginia Macaulay Bannard, child of Groton Latin teachers Preston and Mary Frances Bannard, was baptized. Gussie Johns Bannard P'01, '03, former Groton faculty and trustee (and Preston’s mother), offered prayers for her granddaughter and for all the confirmands.

Of the thirty-five confirmands, three were Groton students, Theo Gardiner ’19, Letitia Caspersen ’22, and Hugh Carlin ’23.

Throughout the service, the school choir sang, joined by members from the choirs of St. Anne’s in-the-Fields in Lincoln and St. Andrew’s Church in Ayer. The mid-afternoon service ended with a reception at the Headmaster’s House.