Baptism without repentance

[zhoudu]

I have a question: If someone received baptism without repentance (for example, he or she was not instructed well, and as a result he or she didn’t know that he or she was supposed to repent before baptism), were his or her original sin and personal sins absolved?

 

[KatyCatholic]

no need to repent before baptism, just an understanding that baptism joins you to the mystical body of Christ (plus the details like water and the trinitarian formula). And yes, original sin and all personal sins will be washed away, regardless of repentance before the baptism, simply because the acknowledgement of what baptism means, by virtue of the sacrament itself, will erase the sins it’s meant to.

 

[zhoudu]

Thank you for your reply! But, do you have some solid basis for your conclusion (for example, some official document from the church or a pope)?

 

[FrJohn]

Wow! I didn’t know someone could be that wrong so quickly. Yes, repentance is necessary for Baptism. While true that we wouldn’t repeat the Baptism because of the efficacy of the rite, the person baptized without repentance would still have to repent; the ordinary means for doing so would be to make a good and sincere confession.

John Braun

 

[KatyCatholic]

what is there to repent from? before baptism, there is no indelible mark on the soul. repentance needs a rejection of sin, sin needs a clean soul to stain, if there is no clean soul, there is nothing to stain as it’s already stained.

so, i guess i was trying to make a distinction between accepting baptism which includes repentance and repentance alone after being baptized. In the same sense, they are the same, “I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want to sin anymore, I want to be in the body of Christ”

and, how about the infant that’s being baptized? how can he/she repent? couldn’t imagine too many personal sins at 8 weeks old.

just trying to make a distinction that the word, though means the same thing, could be used in different context.

but, ya’ll are right, St. Peter does say “repent and be baptized” … so let’s just go with that and if there’s a deeper meaning, maybe we’ll discover it, but probably not if there is a cognate stuck in that spot.

 

[KatyCatholic]

okay, so this is sort of bugging me, do I have it wrong?

I’ve been through several baptism classes and just gave a presentation yesterday to CCE, 6-8th … I hope I did not give the wrong information!

Yes, the scripture says “repent and be baptized” … but does it mean exactly that and only that? Could there be more to St. Peter’s words about baptism? Here’s the section from the Catechism about the requirements of baptism … don’t see the word REPENT in there at all.

IV. Who can Receive Baptism?

1246 "Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized."46

The Baptism of adults

1247 Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where the proclamation of the Gospel is still new. the catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.

1248 The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. the catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. the catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites."47

1249 Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity."48 "With love and solicitude mother Church already embraces them as her own."49

 

[KatyCatholic]

The Baptism of infants

1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called.50 The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. the Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.51

1251 Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.52

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.53

Faith and Baptism

1253 Baptism is the sacrament of faith.54 But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. the faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. the catechumen or the godparent is asked: “What do you ask of God’s Church?” the response is: “Faith!”

1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.

1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents’ help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian life.55 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium).56 The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.

 

[KatyCatholic]

and how do we, as modern catholics, go to confession (reconcilliation) without being baptized into the catholic faith? Baptism is the first sacrament the church enables, the others can only come after this first one, so how can we practice confession when we don’t even accept the church and its sacraments just yet?

 

[FrJohn]

All very good question KatyCatholic, and you’ve given me a lot to think about. Baptism is the first sacrament that begins our life in Christ, and all Baptisms, having the required form and matter, we accept as valid. So, a person could be baptized without repentance–either through his own fault, or from a lack in his instruction–a then be able to go the confession in order to acknowledge and repent of his past personal sins. The Baptism he received would be efficacious because the form and matter of the sacrament were present.
As to infant Baptism: Infants, and children up to the ‘age of reason,’ don’t sin personally. Without personal sins, repentance is not possible. They do inherit from us, however, the effects of the original sin. From those effects, God saves them. I have wondered how any of us, living in a church of redeemed, having been cleansed of all of our sin by Baptism/Confirmation, could still sin? That’s is a problem as old as Paul’s Letter to the Romans. We do sin, we sin because we sin other Catholics sinning, and to top it off, Catholic children see us sinning and the imitation tragedy continues.

JohnB