Baptisms performed by a lay Catholic Chaplain

[Enceladus]

I’ve got a question that I’ve never been able to get a satisfactory answer to and I thought these forums would be as good a place as any to try to get some clarity.

My question is about Lay Catholic Chaplains administering Baptism for adults in the hosptial and in hospice. I am training to become a lay Catholic Chaplain and have encountered two instanced so far of patients requesting baptism from me as a lay Catholic. I have performed these baptisms, but I’ve always had a strong feeling of uncertainty about whether I should be.

In both cases the patients were in danger of death, but whether that death would be tomorrow, or 6 months from now was unclear. Medically they were considered stable but declining. I guess I’m wondering how imminent does the danger of death need to be before it would be proper for me, as a laymen, to baptize? Does their need to be definite terminal prognosis and a suspicion that death is days if not hours away? Or is it sufficient that the person is in a medically compromised state, with a likely, though not certain terminal prognosis and is just as likely to die tomorrow or months from now. In saying that I mean that it’s a very real possibility that they COULD die tomorrow, but it also wouldn’t be surprising to the physician if they lasted a month or two or even more. Working in hospice has taught me that there’s a lot of uncertainty in life expectancy at the end of life. Just today, in fact, I heard of a fellow lay Catholic chaplain who baptized a hospice patient, which perhaps falls under the category of imminent death, but also this patient’s perfectly healthy daughter! Something like that would have to be beyond what the Church allows for lay people to do right?

Another complicating factor is that these patients have both been pretty clear with me that they do not intend to seek out any kind of relationship with the local Catholic parish or even a protestant community near by. It just seems strange to me that these people would seek baptism but not seek fellowship with other Christians if they had the chance. Things like this make me suspect that perhaps these people don’t have the same understanding of baptism that the Church does, and if that’s the case, I start to wonder if I shouldn’t be seeking to understand what this person’s actual belief about baptism is. Which then makes me wonder, is there a view of baptism that a patient could describe to me, that is so far from what the Church teaches that I should decline to perform the baptism? If so, what would be the minimum requirements a person should meet before I could honor their request?

I’d be especially interested if anyone had any information from a cannon law perspective that could shed light on this, though any clarity at all would be appreciated!

 

[1ke]

I guess I’m wondering how imminent does the danger of death need to be before it would be proper for me, as a laymen, to baptize?

This is a question for your bishop, as it is under his purview. This should all be covered in the preparation process for the lay Catholic chaplain ministry. Who is in charge of this, who is preparing you? they should also instruct you on the proper reporting of baptisms in the parish sacramental records.

In general, unless death is imminent you should call for a priest who can baptize, confirm, and give holy communion.

I heard of a fellow lay Catholic chaplain who baptized a hospice patient, which perhaps falls under the category of imminent death, but also this patient’s perfectly healthy daughter! Something like that would have to be beyond what the Church allows for lay people to do right?

Yes.

Another complicating factor is that these patients have both been pretty clear with me that they do not intend to seek out any kind of relationship with the local Catholic parish or even a protestant community near by. It just seems strange to me that these people would seek baptism but not seek fellowship with other Christians if they had the chance.

Again, this is something that you need guidance on from your bishop. When you baptize, you are baptizing into the Church. Therefore, this makes no sense and you should refer them to a priest or to clergy in whatever denomination they want to belong to.

If so, what would be the minimum requirements a person should meet before I could honor their request?

Your bishop should be the one giving you direction on this.

 

[joeybaggz]

Your bishop should be the one giving you direction on this.

I have never seen more correct advise on this forum. This is a question for a bishop, not random, anonymous posters on this forum.

 

[Enceladus]

I appreciate the advice to ask the bishop, honestly that hadn’t ever really occurred to me. He’s such a busy person, I don’t often think of him as some I could just ask questions of. But of course, administration of the Sacraments would seem to be a topic that he would be interested in. I’ll try that route. I have asked a couple of Priests I know, one at least who’s orthodoxy is beyond reproach, but they weren’t really able to give me any concrete guidance.

As far as who is preparing me well…I’m in my third year of formation for this role and I have yet to have any direct Catholic supervisors. The professional training program that one must undergo to be considered for professional certification in lay chaplaincy is called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), a program typically, though not always, overseen by a national organization called the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) which is in close association with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC). None of these bodies requires direct Catholic oversight of the training of hospital chaplains, especially since the first two aren’t Catholic organizations.

I’ve also worked at four different hospital sites, all within Catholic Health care organizations, and only once did I work in a spiritual care department headed by a Catholic. And I don’t want to be uncharitable here, but the few Catholics I have encountered in this work, supervisors or otherwise, aren’t the kind of Catholics that seem overly concerned with being knowledgeable about what the Church teaches on anything (see my example above) so I haven’t really felt like I’ve had many people to turn to for guidance on this kind of thing.

That’s why I thought I’d post the question here. I was hoping someone here might be able to point me in the direction of some referenceable resources, especially in cannon law, that I could use to better inform myself on what the Church teaches and perhaps even be able to defend myself if challenged (yes, this happens a lot, even from supervisors). But the point about the Bishop is well taken. I’ll start digging into what the best channel for contacting him on something like this would be. Thanks!

 

[FiveLinden]

I’ll start digging into what the best channel for contacting him on something like this would be.

email. or phone.

 

[FiveLinden]

Some thoughts here, not quite in line with your situation. http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2016/07/07/laypeople-can-always-baptize/

 

[pianistclare]

I will add, should you eve HAVE to do this, and have permission to do so, let the chancery know.
It needs to be recorded.

 

[TheOldColonel]

When there is danger of death, you are quite right to administer baptism immediately upon request of the faithful. Canon law attests that such emergency baptisms are valid and efficacious. A dying person should never be denied baptism because he or she expresses no interest in registering at a local parish. That is irrelevant in an emergency. Furthermore, the baptism alone does not make the baptized Catholic. That would be accomplished only if a Profession of Faith was also administered by a Catholic priest. My presumption is that this is not being done.

 

[1ke]

As far as who is preparing me well…I’m in my third year of formation for this role and I have yet to have any direct Catholic supervisors. The professional training program that one must undergo to be considered for professional certification in lay chaplaincy is called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), a program typically, though not always, overseen by a national organization called the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) which is in close association with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC). None of these bodies requires direct Catholic oversight of the training of hospital chaplains, especially since the first two aren’t Catholic organizations.

I would say you are not preparing to be a lay Catholic Chaplain. You are preparing to be a chaplain and you happen to be Catholic.

A Catholic chaplain would be under the supervision of the bishop of the diocese and placed in ministry by him or his designee.

I strongly suggest that you reach out and contact the diocese and ask about this role. Ask if you can be commissioned as hospital chaplain, and what the guidelines are for such situations as someone requesting baptism. If they were requesting baptism as a Catholic, you should call a priest. If they are not Catholic so do not intend to be Catholics and are requesting baptism, you can baptize them in an emergency situation. But I would suggest again that you get all of the guidelines through your diocese if you intend To represent yourself as a Catholic chaplain.

 

[casslean]

I’ll second this advice, but also say well done to you for taking on this important task! Hospital chaplaincy is a challenging role, but so very important, especially in our current climate.