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Madison Mellan is not the right age for confirmation in the Albany Diocese. She doesn't even live here.

But while vacationing in New York and visiting her grandparents this summer, the 13-year-old Texas resident prepared for the sacrament in a crash-course manner: volunteering full-time as a camp counselor, going on retreats and taking specialized classes with the faith formation director at St. Michael the Archangel parish in Troy.

Last weekend, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger confirmed her there.

Earlier in the summer, Madison's grandmother, Miriam Ashley, was given just weeks to live as her gallbladder cancer escalated to stage 4. She had hoped to live long enough to see her youngest grandchild confirmed.

"They said there was nothing they could do," said Mrs. Ashley's husband, Dan. Mrs. Ashley was too ill to be interviewed. "She wanted to see the last of her grandchildren have the Holy Spirit with her the rest of her life. She thinks, when she dies, Madison will always have somebody with her."

Born here
The first half of Madison's life was spent in North Greenbush, in a house across the street from the Ashleys. She attended St. Michael's parish and St. Jude the Apostle School in Wynantskill from kindergarten until second grade.

When the U.S. economy turned sour, her parents had to relocate to Flower Mound, Texas, for a job opportunity. There are fewer Catholic parishes and schools there, so they enrolled her in a public school.

"It's very different," said Jude Mellan, Madison's mother. Madison has not been in religious education classes in Texas, but attends Mass and has heard her parents and grandparents talk about confirmation for years. She didn't blink at the prospect of making her confirmation rather suddenly this summer.

"She was fine with it," Mrs. Mellan said. (Madison was at a back-to-school band activity, so she couldn't speak with The Evangelist directly.) "She was definitely on board, because we talk about it so much. And she was happy to be able to do it in New York, where she's from."

Madison had been baptized at St. Michael's; her grandparents are still parishioners. Madison and her mother stay in their New York home every summer to visit the Ashleys and Madison's friends from St. Jude's.

Confirmation prep
When Madison's mother and grandfather approached the parish at the beginning of the summer about getting confirmed, Sister Kate Arseneau, CSJ, parish life director, advised Madison to join their preparation program while they awaited an answer from the Bishop.

Sister Kate hoped that Bishop Scharfenberger would permit a priest to celebrate the sacrament, but he offered to confirm Madison himself.

"We were flabbergasted and elated to have a bishop say he would come and do that," Mr. Ashley said.

"It just made it so wonderful for us," Mrs. Mellan told The Evangelist. "Madison said she feels more complete - that she's now truly a Catholic, that this is her Church and nobody can take that away from her."

Madison chose Miriam as her confirmation name "to honor her grandmother, especially at this time."

Emotional moment
It "was very emotional for her and for everybody else. It meant the world to me...that my mother did not miss this big life event of Madison's, because I know she's going to miss a lot of life events coming up," Mrs. Mellan said.

Mr. Ashley said his wife was even more elated to see her granddaughter confirmed by the Bishop than when she saw Pope Benedict XVI in Rome at St. Kateri Tekakwitha's 2012 canonization: "She says this far surpassed anything she has seen in her life when it comes to religion."

For his own part, "I don't think I can describe with words how I feel in my heart," he said. "I am absolutely thrilled."

Mr. Ashley said their faith keeps the family going during this difficult time. He prays the Rosary every day.

"That's the only thing I pray for - that the Lord help us through it," he said. "You've got to have faith."[[In-content Ad]]

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