Baptism Question?

[BritLovesYou]

I am a cradle Catholic married to a non-denominational Christian man. We have a newborn daughter, and we intend to have her baptized in my parish. We attend mass together every week and attend his non-denominational services once or twice a month, maybe more if we’re doing some type of volunteering. His family attends that church and is highly active in it. Instead of baptism, they have an infant “dedication”. The question has come up of whether or not our baby can be baptized Catholic AND dedicated. I’ve been present at these dedication services and they don’t say anything contrary to Catholic belief. It’s just pretty much the parents making a really general statement to raise their child in a “Christian” home. My husband wants to have her dedicated if possible, but isn’t dead set on doing so since he of course agreed before marriage to raise any children Catholic and he’s been very good about it. I’m indifferent to this, as long as it isn’t forbidden. What are the rules about this? I plan on talking to our priest, but just looking for a general idea out of curiousity. Thanks!

 

[exnihilo]

You are going to have your child baptized, right?

As for the dedication service based on what I know of them I don’t think it would be wrong. It doesn’t in any way mock a baptism since the general belief amongst practitioners is that you can’t baptize babies.

One thing you may want to consider is this is may be an opportunity to gently convert your husband. His desire to have his child dedicated is natural. God didn’t leave us without anything. God actually gave us baptism for precisely this. Just as Jewish babies were brought into a covenant relationship at eight days old so too can Christian babies be brought into the covenant relationship.

 

[1ke]

I think it is problematic because those who “dedicate” babies do so because they deny the efficacy or necessity of infant baptism. So, to “dedicate” your baby in this church could really give scandal both to other Catholics and to the non-denominational people who may view it as you agreeing with their theology or intending to raise your child in the non-denom. church.

Baptism does dedicate the child to God, in a very real, sacramental way. All of the things the “baby dedication” represents in the non-denom. church, baptism represents that AND really truly washes away original sin, gives sanctifying grace, and makes her a member of the Body of Christ.

Doing the “dedication” would seem to me that it casts doubts on whether the parents really believe what they did in the baptism, or that there needs to be something more done.

I can see that it is somewhat a family thing with his non-denom. family, but given the nature of the ceremony-- it seems like you couldn’t do it in good conscience.

I suggest you talk to your pastor about it and see what he says.

 

[ConfusedLucy]

If my husband and I had children we would probably take this approach, he has a lot of non-denom friends who would want to pray for our hypothetical children and teach them about Jesus and we would want to honour them.

 

[tseleehw]

I have thought about this very question before, given that I am married to a woman who attends a non-denominational church, which like many other non-denominational churches, also does not do infant baptism, but rather infant “dedication”. We baptized our child as a Catholic and she agreed before the marriage to raise our children Catholic, so she never asked to have our child dedicated in her church, but I did think about if it would be prudent to do so.

I think the answer is very likely to be “no”. Getting a child “dedicated” in one of these non-denominational churches often requires a similar commitment to raise the child according to the beliefs of the non-denominational church, as it does in the Catholic Church, which would obviously conflict with the baptism promises you made for your child. 1ke up above has covered the other potential problems as well and I agree with what he says in terms of the reasons why it is probably not a good idea. Also, another point I’d like to make is that whoever the pastor is of the non-denominational church may not be willing to “dedicate” the infant if he is made aware that you intend to raise your child Catholic.

So I would go with “No” as the answer to your question but by all means talk to your priest.

 

[Padres1969]

I am a cradle Catholic married to a non-denominational Christian man. We have a newborn daughter, and we intend to have her baptized in my parish. We attend mass together every week and attend his non-denominational services once or twice a month, maybe more if we’re doing some type of volunteering. His family attends that church and is highly active in it. Instead of baptism, they have an infant “dedication”. The question has come up of whether or not our baby can be baptized Catholic AND dedicated. I’ve been present at these dedication services and they don’t say anything contrary to Catholic belief. It’s just pretty much the parents making a really general statement to raise their child in a “Christian” home. My husband wants to have her dedicated if possible, but isn’t dead set on doing so since he of course agreed before marriage to raise any children Catholic and he’s been very good about it. I’m indifferent to this, as long as it isn’t forbidden. What are the rules about this? I plan on talking to our priest, but just looking for a general idea out of curiousity. Thanks!

The answer from a Catholic POV probably comes down to what is involved in the Infant “Dedication”. If you’re agreeing to simply raise the child Christian, and the non-denom church doesn’t have any issue with Catholics as “Christian” then it might not be a big deal. If the non-denom church is at all anti-Catholic, or if they want you to agree to raise the child as a non-denom Christian then I’d imagine there’d be a problem from the Catholic POV.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

Some churches see this as a sort of “membership pledge”. That would rule out the option for a Catholic. I think at the very least, you need to consider how honest the message would be that you’re sending those who witness the dedication ceremony. At first glance, to me, it seems a little deceptive and covert. Now, perhaps it isn’t; maybe that’s not your intention, and I certainly don’t mean to imply that I know your intent.

Also, since someone raised the idea of evangelizing, sometimes taking what might on the surface appear to be a hard-nosed stand is actually a more effective tool for teaching our faith.