Baptism of special needs child

[freeindeed]

I have recently converted to Catholicism. I have a 7-year-old daughter who is severely mentally challenged. We adopted her from China five years ago. Since I was Baptist, she has never been baptised. Can she be baptised in my Catholic church now? Also, I have not been through confirmation yet, so would I have to do that before she could be baptised? I do plan to talk to my priest about this, but first I wanted to get the consensus here. Thank you.

 

[SMHW]

When you say you have “converted to Catholicism” I have to think that means you are currently going through instruction classes and/or RCIA in order to prepare for making a profession of faith and confirmation. Is this correct? Since you didn’t say you were preparing to be baptized then I’m inferring that you are already baptized.

Usually children who are over the age of seven or so are expected to prepare for baptism and confirmation as if they were adults (but after attending instruction that is at a child’s level.) Children younger than that are usually not presumed to have reached the age of reason and so are baptized as “infants” in accordance with the parents’ promises to raise them as Catholic.

You don’t state the nature of your daughter’s mental challenges but if they are such that your daughter is considered to have the mental reasoning of a much younger child then you should be able to have her baptized as an infant. However there is a good chance that your parish will want you wait until you make your own profession of faith.

 

[triumphguy]

I have recently converted to Catholicism. I have a 7-year-old daughter who is severely mentally challenged. We adopted her from China five years ago. Since I was Baptist, she has never been baptised. Can she be baptised in my Catholic church now? Also, I have not been through confirmation yet, so would I have to do that before she could be baptised? I do plan to talk to my priest about this, but first I wanted to get the consensus here. Thank you.

Except in extremely rare cases priests will not baptize a child if the parents are not Catholic. Once you are a Catholic your daughter will be able to be baptized.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

The answer is yes, mentally retarded children are baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church. They deserve the graces of these sacraments. They need whatever preparation is appropriate to their ability.

Parents do not necessarily need to be confirmed before a child can be baptized. It is a judgement matter for your pastor.

 

[triumphguy]

The answer is yes, mentally retarded children are baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church. They deserve the graces of these sacraments. They need whatever preparation is appropriate to their ability.

Parents do not necessarily need to be confirmed before a child can be baptized. It is a judgement matter for your pastor.

As a dad of a kid with down syndrome I can get tired of repeating what I’m going to say.

We don’t label kids mentally retarded anymore. That was decades ago.

It’s children WITH developmental delays. The particular “delay” is not used to describe the kid - so it’s not a down syndrome child, it’s a child with down syndrome.

Sorry for preaching, most people don;t know the effect those kind of words can have.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Triumph, I am indeed sorry if that term offends you. I live in a state that uses the term MR/DD(Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled) in law, so it seems standard to me.

 

[triumphguy]

Triumph, I am indeed sorry if that term offends you. I live in a state that uses the term MR/DD(Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled) in law, so it seems standard to me.

Thanks Paul - sometimes the laws have been on the books for decades.

I’m a teacher too, and over the past 20 years with turned away from identifying people BY their “disability” to identifying them as someone “with” a disability, to identifying them as a person who has some areas of “special need,” to mainly just identifying them as a person.

It took me years to not say “good boy” when my son achieved a milestone, to saying good talking, or good listening, or good eating, so the person is not good if they perform, but they are good and sometimes their ability can be good too.

 

[EasterJoy]

When parents join the church, the pastor meets with children they wish to have join the Church with them. If the child is developmentally at a stage where she can decide for herself, then she has to decide for herself. If she is not at that stage, you can decide for her. Typically, parents and children in our archdiocese enter the Church on the same Easter Vigil night.

 

[VivienneJ]

As a dad of a kid with down syndrome I can get tired of repeating what I’m going to say.

We don’t label kids mentally retarded anymore. That was decades ago.

It’s children WITH developmental delays. The particular “delay” is not used to describe the kid - so it’s not a down syndrome child, it’s a child with down syndrome.

Sorry for preaching, most people don;t know the effect those kind of words can have.

In fact it seems that using the term ‘special needs’ or ‘developmental delays’ has enabled more children to be helped. My granddaughter has drug resistant absence epilepsy, this has resulted in emotional and academic developmental delays. Talking to her would, most times, give no indication that she has any sort of delay, sit her in a traditional classroom and the picture is very different.

 

[dconklin]

Getting beyond the terms…

The church will not only baptize any special needs child but it will also help them receive their 1st Communion and Confirmation. We have a family join our parish that has a son with delays including being nonverbal. When he was born they had him baptized. They were told by a nun at their former parish that he would never receive any other sacraments and they should not bring him to Mass.

When they moved to our parish we helped him receive his sacraments and gained a wonderfully active family. The mom has been a 2nd grade First Communion catechist for 10 years and is currently serving on the Pastoral Council.