Advice on secret baptisms of children

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AdamPeter said:
And yeah…I’m surprised any priest went along with this.
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I don’t know why you’d be suprised. In the Catholic Church the consent of only one parent is required for licety. I am sure it’s the same in the Orthodox Churches.
 
Maybe so. But I’m sure if a person came along to my local parish priest and said they wanted to secretly baptise their kids, questions would be asked.
 
The OP is “Greek Orthodox” which I understand is not the same as “Orthodox”, or am I misinformed?”
 
1ke said:
Greek Orthodox is one of the Orthodox Churches.
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Is the relationship between Catholic and Orthodox churches - in so far as the mutual view of each other’s sacraments is concerned - the same for Greek Orthodox and for other Orthodox?
 
Rau said:
Is the relationship between Catholic and Orthodox churches - in so far as the mutual view of each other’s sacraments is concerned - the same for Greek Orthodox and for other Orthodox
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No. The Orthodox are in communion with each other. They are not in communion with the Catholic Church.
 
Thanks everybody for taking the time to contribute your opinion. I would out of interest like to hear from those that said it was the wrong thing to do and creates lots of problems etc what they would alternatively had done if they happened to find themselves in my position. Considering that my husband’s opinion changed after marriage and it is not as if I had failed to discuss this with him before the children were born. I have tried very hard to keep our family together the best I could. I agree totally that it creates lots of problems and I have been already ‘punished’ in more ways than the future could bring if my husband decides to divorce me for e.g. when he finds out what I did.

I am not at all surprised the priest performed the baptism (which yes includes communion and chrism in the orthodox ceremony) as there are many a families around who are single parents or where a partner may be sick or abroad and may not be around to provide consent. And he was a fully qualified greek orthodox priest.
 
The issue is not what your husband wants. The issue is that a Catholic is required to baptize their children Catholic and raise them as Catholics. By baptizing them Orthodox they are now Orthodox and that creates a lot of problems.
 
Sunbreak said:
The issue is not what your husband wants. The issue is that a Catholic is required to baptize their children Catholic and raise them as Catholics. By baptizing them Orthodox they are now Orthodox and that creates a lot of problems.
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I encourage you to read the documents regarding Catholic-Orthodox marriages (USCCB).

The husband is non practicing. The wife is a practicing GO. It is not a “problem” that she had the baptized GO.
 
Thanks Jharek for the (name removed by moderator)ut. I guess in this lifetime I will never know if what I did was right or wrong. But no one has ever given me an alternative better choice. This is frustrating for me as I consider myself to be someone who always tries hard to do the right thing… that is why I am trying to find a way of getting inner peace. I believe the first step is to confess what I did to my husband and secondly and most importantly to my children who to this day do not know they have been baptized for obvious reasons. You are right that my husband’s concern is to do with his long line of catholic ancestors but the way I see it is that I will never thank the women who have been there in my position in the past for accepting everything their husband wished for his children to be regardless of her own religion and beliefs. I would like however my kids to thank me for showing them that one should stand by his/her beliefs and for not giving up on them when their dad said he didn’t want them to be part of any church.
 
I’m glad you are telling your husband. What was a better alternative? Well, not marrying him in the first place probably would have been the best choice; after marriage and the birth of your first child, you could have had the baby baptized with the knowledge of your husband, or waited.
 
Yep, tell your kids, because by not living their baptismal promises they are now in a real pickle!
 
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