It doesn't take place until May, but as far as retailers are concerned, the first holy communion season is already half over. As soon as Christmas is finished, anxious families, keen to kit out their youngsters in the latest fashions, start beating paths to shops selling communion wear.
Hectic - that's how shopkeepers describe their business and despite falling church attendance, there's no sign of a let-up on first communion. It remains as popular as ever, and even more expensive. Some parents are paying as much as £500 for a dress and all the trimmings for a first communicant. Boys, too, can be expensive - especially if you're opting for a hand-tailored, made-to-measure suit, which can cost as much as £250. On top of this, many families use first communion - like, indeed, confirmation - as an excuse to tog out the whole family. Factor in the cost of a lunch in a hotel or restaurant or a party for relatives and friends, and, for some families at least, there's very little change out of £2,000. Sadly perhaps, the only people who are shocked by this expenditure tend to be the better off. There's a lot of evidence to show that the poorer you are, the more likely you are to want to go all out for first communion.
Research conducted by Limerick's Paul Project in the early 1990s showed that low-income families making "special needs" social-welfare claims did so to raise money to cover communion or confirmation costs. For one-third of the people surveyed, the payments, which ranged from £20 to £190, were insufficient to meet the total costs of clothes. More than half of these were willing to go into debt to make up the shortfall.
Michael Wall, director of services at the society of St Vincent De Paul, confirms that low-income families often prefer to buy new communion clothes rather than take hand-me-downs for free. "People donate communion dresses to us - often they have cost hundreds of pounds," he explains. "We offer them to people in need and sell the surplus in our shops to raise funds. We find that people with needs often prefer to buy their own dresses and that the people who buy the dresses in our shops are usually of reasonable means."
With all the fuss about clothing and its costs, it's little wonder that many of the clergy take a dim view of the proceedings. They understandably fear that in, all the bruhaha, the religious nature of the event is being overlooked. Many parents, however, believe that unless they make a splash, they're doing a disservice to their offspring. Some, too, are working hard to keep up with the Murphys.
For most eight-year-olds - and for the girls in particular - making your first communion is just about the most significant thing you can do in your life. The chance to be special for a day and the sense of self that it engenders can have lasting benefits for a child. It's an important day, too, for the extended family, and often provides it with a rare opportunity to get together and celebrate. Many family members, at all income levels, enjoy contributing to the occasion. Grannie may buy the shoes, for example, while Auntie chips in with the veil.
Small wonder that, in adulthood, even people who have fallen by the religious wayside look back fondly on their first communion day. According to Fionnuala Kilfeather, national co-ordinator of the National Parents Council (Primary), the cost of first communion is less of an issue today than it was a few years ago. And many schools work hard to persuade parents against spending vast amounts of money on first communion. Max Cannon, principal of Holy Rosary National School, Ballycragh, Tallaght, Co Dublin, confirms that expenditure "has toned down a bit. We have a lot of discussions with parents about the issue and people are realising that it's a folly to be spending a lot of money."
Parents at the school, however, have proved reluctant to throw over the traditional communion dress in favour of the school uniform. Many schools, in fact, have had tussles on the issue.
Some schools have opted for albs - long white robes, to be worn over school uniforms. But even where the alb is worn, many youngsters persist in wearing frilly dresses underneath. As one parish priest remarks, the people who are most vociferous in their support of big-splash communions with all the trimmings are the least regular attenders at Mass. Communion may be thriving, but at school level, there's some dissatisfaction that it is the teachers who are left to carry the can. Research conducted for Veritas last year by Martin Kennedy, a pastoral co-ordinator in Offaly, highlights a number of interesting facts. While primary-level teachers and their pupils are largely positive about their schools' religious teaching, both parents and parish priests are reluctant to become involved and are more likely to keep their distance.
"Side by side with the priest's increasing disengagement from the schools, the teachers also see a growing disengagement from the parish generally by both parents and students," Kennedy says.
"This leaves the teachers feeling that they are often the only adults regularly proposing a religious agenda to the children." Children's experience of religion, he says, is increasingly becoming ghettoised - on an "island" restricted to children and their teachers. "Society is changing in terms of its religious make-up," comments a school principal, and this is reflected among staff. "Teaching religion and preparing children for communion is probably an uncomfortable zone for some people." Despite its popularity with most people, communion can also be an uncomfortable zone for some parents. What do you do if you are of a different faith or of no faith?
"The issue needs to be handled sensitively," says Fionnuala Kilfeather. "There needs to be discussion at school level with parents. People who would prefer their children not to make first communion should be able to discuss it openly." There's some evidence to show that many schools are handling the issue well. "We have a number of students of different faiths," comments Max Cannon. "They make it clear that they don't want their children to be involved. The Muslim children receive their religious education separately. "However, the revised religious programmes incorporates a lot of things that are good for everyone - including moral development. When we explain the content to most parents they don't have a problem with it."
Although children who have not been baptised cannot receive the sacraments, they can be included in the celebrations. Last year, Hindu students from Nepal wore their national costume to the first-communion Mass for Holy Rosary and they featured in the photographs.
Jane is an agnostic, north Dublin mother of two who has had a number of good experiences in local schools - but initially a bad experience with her daughter, Emma.
"The children haven't been baptised, nor do they practise a religion," Jane explains. "We've never had a problem in any of the national schools they have attended. I've always made a point of informing the teachers about our situation. "My son has always had a very sceptical attitude towards religion and took no interest in first communion. Emma, though, was completely different. From the time she was four, she was adamant she would make her first communion. "All she could talk about was gorgeous dresses, beautiful outfits and the money she would collect. It was a real challenge for me. Was I being mean? Would she always regret not making first communion? I had to think long and hard.
"I decided to tell her that we weren't Catholics and we didn't take communion. I knew it wasn't the religion she was interested in - it was only the money and the dresses." In the event, Jane and Emma reached a compromise. Emma got new clothes and a new hairdo and sang in the choir while her friends were making their communions. "The school was very good and once she saw that she was being involved, she was quite happy," Jane says.
A number of Jane's friends have found themselves in similar situations - but have capitulated and have rushed to get their children baptised in time for first communion. "The pressure isn't coming from the rest of the family," Jane says. "It's coming from the children themselves."
