Baptism conundrum

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AngelusDomini

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This only occurred to me recently. Let’s say there is a baby close to death. An agnostic parent asks a Catholic friend who happens to be visiting the bedside to baptise the child. The child lives. Is that child a Catholic or of the denomination the parents choose?
 
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CCC[1256] “The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin Church, also the deacon. In case of necessity, anyone, even a non-baptized person, with the required intention, can baptize , by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.”
 
So even if the child was baptised by a Catholic the parents could still claim them as Protestant? (Only thinking about this as if the child is baptised by a layman the Church should be informed so as to insert the baptism into its registers).
 
As I understand it, yes. It would be considered a validly Catholic baptism (assuming the proper formula were used), but the child in such an instance would be raised outside of the Church. If the child were to desire to come into total communion with the Catholic Church after reaching the ‘age of reason’, he or she could follow through with the necessary steps for Confirmation, etc.

The Catholic Church distinguishes between the validity of baptisms based largely on formula and intention. Because of this, even many protestant baptisms are deemed valid.
 
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Thanks. That makes sense. It was one of those things that I was randomly wondering about today.
 
noob said:
It would be considered a validly Catholic baptism (assuming the proper formula were used), but the child in such an instance would be raised outside of the Church. If the child were to desire to come into total communion with the Catholic Church after reaching the ‘age of reason’,
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A person baptized into the Catholic Church is already “in total communion with the Church”.

Regarding baptizing an agnostic’s child:
It would be incumbent upon the person doing the baptizing to make it clear that the baptism obligates the raising of the child in the Catholic Faith if they were to recover and to ask for agreement on that.

Lacking agreement, a Catholic should seek direction from their pastor in such a situation before taking it upon themselves to baptize.
 
There is NO (protestant, Lutheran, Baptist) Baptism.
If you care to read the Apostles creed it is clear that there is ONLY 1 Baptism.
And it joins you to the Body of Christ.
Whether one remains fully joined to that trunk or one puts distance between one selve and the trunk depends on how close one remains to the Sacraments that were instituted by Jesus Himself.
So your question is where is the Church that remains closer to the teachings of the Apostles and the Sacraments?
Peace!
 
But where would/should the baptism be registered?
As a Catholic I would presume to have it registered in the Catholic parish though the parents may decide to register it at a Protestant church.
 
I am not sure how a protestant pastor would react to the news that a baby was Baptized by a layman. As many denomination don’t consider Baptism a Sacrament just merely a “sign”.
A priest on the other hand might shake his head from side to side, but should register the fact that the infant was Baptized albeit irregularly. So that in the future someone does not attempt to re-Baptize him/her.
Although I imagine there must be some Canon Law involved in the matter of which I’m no expert.
Peace!
 
Couple of things:

The agnostic parent need not ask the Catholic friend to baptize the child. Anyone can baptize someone in danger of death if they use the correct formula and water. Even a non-believer.

Many years ago hospital nurses and doctors often baptized any child near death regardless of the faith of the parents. Unfortunately, the baptisms were often never recorded, which is problematic.

Lots of grandparents have baptized their grandchildren in secret because their parents won’t baptize them. Again, these acts need to be recorded in the parish records.

You shouldn’t baptize someone against the wishes of their parents unless the baby is truly near death.

And yes, that child would be Catholic, even if they never knew so.

Deacon Christopher
 
AngelusDomini said:
But where would/should the baptism be registered?
As a Catholic I would presume to have it registered in the Catholic parish though the parents may decide to register it at a Protestant church.
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It shouldn’t be because of the legal effects of baptism which are different to the sacramental and which the parents are not intending their child to be bound by. A record should however be made of the details (date, place, etc) and the fact the the baptism was done according to the proper Trinitarian formula and in the proper manner (water touching, flowing, etc).
 
So are Protestants technically Catholics because of their baptism? I mean, assuming the baptism is the same formula the Catholic Church uses, what makes one Catholic vs. non Catholic? The church they were baptized into? If so, the child would be neither Catholic nor Protestant after the baptism, but just a Christian, not belonging to any church(yet)
 
AngelusDomini said:
An agnostic parent asks a Catholic friend who happens to be visiting the bedside to baptise the child. The child lives. Is that child a Catholic or of the denomination the parents choose?
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As you posed the question, the answer is “Yes.”

Presuming the second - that the child somewhere along the line decides (0r the parents decide ) that the child will join the Catholic Church, there will be no second “baptism” - presuming the normal formula was observed.

And the child, now baptized, might be raised in a Protestant denomination. So the child would have experienced the first sacrament - baptism - and be raised as a Protestant.

So “yes” to both of your questions.
 
rosejmj said:
So are Protestants technically Catholics because of their baptism?
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;The child has received the sacrament of baptism; but has to be raised in some faith community, or they are neither “Catholic” nor “Protestant” - a point among many Protestant communities, which do not practice infant baptism, but wait for the child to “choose” to be a member of the community; and they may see baptism not as a sacrament, but as an ordinance.

All of which is why the Church seriously frowns on parents or grandparents or others baptizing the child, but doing nothing else.
 
Protestants are our separated brothers and sisters, all adopted into the family of God the way that we were at our Catholic baptisms.

If anyone wantS an earlier understanding of the original question, read about The Mortara case. This is about the baptism of a Jewish boy by his Catholic nurse in Italy.
 
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