Baptising Children in the church..help?

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Melbgirl

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Hi Everyone,

I would just like to know what the Catholic Church thinks in regards to this topic.
If a couple was married outside of the Catholic church but both are practising Catholics, when they chose to have children will the church allow them to baptise them?
Or will they not recognise their marriage as it wasnt in the church?

If anyone could let me know it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Melbgirl said:
If a couple was married outside of the Catholic church but both are practising Catholics,
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Which is it?

Were they married outside of the Church?
Or are they both practicing Catholics?

What makes you think they can be both?

tee
 
That being out of the way, whether a child’s parents are married or not has no direct bearing on the child’s suitability for baptism.

But there does have to be a founded hope that the child will be raised in the faith. This is a judgment that is left to the pastor.

tee
 
Melbgirl said:
Hi Everyone,

I would just like to know what the Catholic Church thinks in regards to this topic.
If a couple was married outside of the Catholic church but both are practising Catholics,
Click to expand...
Were they married outside the Church and then came into the Church or returned to the practice of their faith OR were they formerly practicing Catholics who married outside the Church?

If the former, were either one of them Catholic at the time of the “wedding”?
when they chose to have children will the church allow them to baptise them?
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The priest needs to be assured that there is a reasonable certainty that the children will be raised in the faith. If they are not in a sacramental marriage, he may ask them to rectify that situation first.
Or will they not recognise their marriage as it wasnt in the church?
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If the couple included at least one Catholic at the time of their civil marriage, they are not in a recognized marriage now. But not having a recognized marriage is not an absolute barrier to bringing a child for Baptism.
 
Melbgirl said:
I would just like to know what the Catholic Church thinks in regards to this topic.
If a couple was married outside of the Catholic church but both are practising Catholics, when they chose to have children will the church allow them to baptise them?
Or will they not recognise their marriage as it wasnt in the church?
Click to expand...
I would advise them to contact a priest to learn about having their wedding convalidated in the Church. If it’s a first marriage for both, it’s a straight forward process. If there’s a divorce (or more) involved, it gets more complicated because of the need for annulment, but it’s still something that can be done if there are grounds for an annulment.

I would also advise them not to be embarrassed with regards to the situation. While it’s obvious that someone should not seek to be in an irregular marriage, it’s a fairly common thing, and priests convalidate marriages frequently. The important thing is that the situation is resolved.

Until they have discussed the matter with a priest, I would also strongly advise the couple to not receive Communion.

As for the Baptism question, it comes down to whether or not the priest performing the baptism feels the child will be raised in the Catholic Faith. No one can answer that specific question on here, but having parents in an irregular marriage and not in good standing with the Church raises some red flags, to say the least. On the other hand, a couple going through the process to reconcile their marriage with the Church would send a much more positive signal.
 
Melbgirl said:
Hi Everyone,

I would just like to know what the Catholic Church thinks in regards to this topic.
If a couple was married outside of the Catholic church but both are practising Catholics, when they chose to have children will the church allow them to baptise them?
Or will they not recognise their marriage as it wasnt in the church?

If anyone could let me know it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
The Church will not recognize the Marriage if it’s not a valid Marriage. If they are not in a valid Marriage they generally cannot participate in the Sacraments. They of course can and atill have the Sunday obligation but cannot receive Holy Communion. It would be the pastors decision to make regarding the Baptism of any children.
 
okay…all answers seem to be the same…that the marriage is not recognised in the catholic church.

can someone please inform me how you would go about having the marriage validated in the church if it has already taken place?

Thank you
 
Melbgirl said:
okay…all answers seem to be the same…that the marriage is not recognised in the catholic church.

can someone please inform me how you would go about having the marriage validated in the church if it has already taken place?

Thank you
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They need to go talk to a priest by making an appointment at their parish. They need to start practicing the faith for real- go to confession , ask father to convalidate the marriage , sign up for the Baptism classes etc.
 
Melbgirl said:
okay…all answers seem to be the same…that the marriage is not recognised in the catholic church.

can someone please inform me how you would go about having the marriage validated in the church if it has already taken place?

Thank you
Click to expand...
That would depend on why the Marriage was not recognized in the first place, but no matter what the solution is, they all will start with the pastor.
 
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