Baptism of child for latin rite parents

[AutumnMarie]

My spouse and I are both validly baptized, confirmed, and married Latin rite Catholics. We happen to live in a city where we have found no Latin rite parishes that are reasonably orthodox-enough to feel comfortable attending. We have been fulfilling our obligations at a local Maronite parish for the past year or so. We are happy in the Maronite parish and are pleased that we can be surrounded by sound theology and practices, but we do hope to return to a Latin rite parish when we move in the next 2-3 years. My question is this, we are having our first child soon.

A) Can she be baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish?

B) If she is baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish does our daughter become a member of the Maronite rite or Latin rite (I am reading and being told mixed things on this point)?

C) Are we doing something wrong in spirit or the law by seeking baptism for our daughter in the Maronite parish?

Thank you for your thoughts

 

[Angel_Gabriel]

hello , I’ll try to answer as best as I can.

A) yes

B) she will be canonically a member of the Latin Church since your husband (and you) are Latin Catholics. If, in the future you all wish to transfer canonical enrollment she will automatically come with you if she is under the age of 14.

C) No there are lots of families who are canonically Latin but who belong to Eastern Catholic parishes. And they have there kids baptized there as well…some have the permission of the local Latin bishop to have their kids chrismated as well. However, you should have them make a note in the Baptismal record book that she is canonically Latin.

 

[Elizium23]

According to Latin Church canon law, your territorial pastor is responsible for sacraments such as Baptism, Confirmation, and Matrimony. You may need to seek his permission in order to baptize your child somewhere else.

 

[Vico]

My spouse and I are both validly baptized, confirmed, and married Latin rite Catholics. We happen to live in a city where we have found no Latin rite parishes that are reasonably orthodox-enough to feel comfortable attending. We have been fulfilling our obligations at a local Maronite parish for the past year or so. We are happy in the Maronite parish and are pleased that we can be surrounded by sound theology and practices, but we do hope to return to a Latin rite parish when we move in the next 2-3 years. My question is this, we are having our first child soon.

A) Can she be baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish?

B) If she is baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish does our daughter become a member of the Maronite rite or Latin rite (I am reading and being told mixed things on this point)?

C) Are we doing something wrong in spirit or the law by seeking baptism for our daughter in the Maronite parish?

Thank you for your thoughts

Latin Canon Law applies CIC; and your proper pastor is territorial and of the Latin Church, not the Maronite pastor; and the sui iuris Church of enrollment is based upon the parents, which you said is Latin, and not based on the sui iuris Church of the minister. The Maronite pastor would need delegation to baptize, and should not give Chrismation because the Latin sacramental discipline is used.
Can. 530 The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:
1/ the administration of baptism; …

Can. 862 Except in a case of necessity, no one is permitted to confer baptism in the territory of another without the required permission, not even upon his own subjects.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

Latin Canon Law applies CIC; and your proper pastor is territorial and of the Latin Church, not the Maronite pastor; and the sui iuris Church of enrollment is based upon the parents, which you said is Latin, and not based on the sui iuris Church of the minister. The Maronite pastor would need delegation to baptize, and should not give Chrismation because the Latin sacramental discipline is used.
Can. 530 The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:
1/ the administration of baptism; …

Can. 862 Except in a case of necessity, no one is permitted to confer baptism in the territory of another without the required permission, not even upon his own subjects.

Note that the restriction on performing baptism is not a ministerial reservation to a person’s proper pastor (to whom this function is only “especially entrusted”), but a territorial reservation to the pastor of the place (and those upon whom he confers permission to baptize in his territory). And while the parish church of the parents is the proper place of baptism “as a rule,” only a “just cause” (can. 857.2) is required for an exception. Thus Latin Catholics who feel they have a good reason to do so are perfectly free to approach a cleric in a different place than their proper parish to baptize their children - if that cleric is not a pastor, he will need permission from the pastor of the place, but if he is a pastor, he may confer baptism within his own territory without needing permission from some other authority. Conversely, if the parents’ proper pastor were asked to celebrate the baptism in someone else’s parish church (perhaps a childhood church of the parents), he would need permission from that place’s pastor, even though baptizing his own subject.

 

[Casilda]

A) Can she be baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish?

B) If she is baptized by the Maronite priest in the Maronite parish does our daughter become a member of the Maronite rite or Latin rite (I am reading and being told mixed things on this point)?

C) Are we doing something wrong in spirit or the law by seeking baptism for our daughter in the Maronite parish?

Thank you for your thoughts

Ask the Maronite priest these questions.

Our very large, sprawled out diocese has but one Latin mass a week at one parish. We fortunately have one Eastern Catholic parish (a separate diocese), Maronite. When trying to revert back to my Roman Catholic roots I was told 6 different things at 6 different Roman Catholic parishes.The Maronite priest sorted it all out in less than a week.

 

[Vico]

Note that the restriction on performing baptism is not a ministerial reservation to a person’s proper pastor (to whom this function is only “especially entrusted”), but a territorial reservation to the pastor of the place (and those upon whom he confers permission to baptize in his territory). And while the parish church of the parents is the proper place of baptism “as a rule,” only a “just cause” (can. 857.2) is required for an exception. Thus Latin Catholics who feel they have a good reason to do so are perfectly free to approach a cleric in a different place than their proper parish to baptize their children - if that cleric is not a pastor, he will need permission from the pastor of the place, but if he is a pastor, he may confer baptism within his own territory without needing permission from some other authority. Conversely, if the parents’ proper pastor were asked to celebrate the baptism in someone else’s parish church (perhaps a childhood church of the parents), he would need permission from that place’s pastor, even though baptizing his own subject.

And pastor means bishop or priest, depending upon the situation. For Latin Catholics seeking sacraments of initiation in an eastern Catholic sui iuris church, the celebrant must receive permission. CCEO canon 683 requires celebration according to the liturgical prescriptions of the church sui iuris in which, according to the norm of law, the person to be baptized is to be ascribed (here, Latin). Requesting a non Latin rite in this situation is absolutely discouraged, for the initiation should visibly signify entrance into the Latin Church. The minister must follow the ritual of his own church sui iuris, but with bi-ritual faculties can use another.