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FonsBonitatis
Guest
These are a few questions regarding an 8 year old girl. Her father and mother have recently separated—they were unmarried—and her father wants to get her Baptized while her mother is indifferent at best. She is living primarily with her mother, and she hasn’t been Baptized yet because her parents have been less committed to Catholicism than her father apparently is now. The girl seems unenthusiastic about getting Baptized, although I could be wrong.
The questions:
(1) My understanding is that a child who has reached the age of reason has to (a) decide on their own whether or not to receive Baptism and (b) has to go through a program of Catechesis, something like an RCIA for children, before being received into the Church during the Easter Vigil. Is this understanding incorrect? If this is a rule, are there exceptions that are ever made?
(2) Should a parish be Baptizing children at this age if there is a reason to believe they would not be brought up Catholic?
(3) There is a decent chance that, if she is to be Baptized, my wife and I would be asked to be her godparents. Respectfully, I don’t want to do that, because I am incredibly skeptical that she will be given decent formation in the Catholic faith at home. Is this a sufficient reason to refuse being a child’s godparent? I don’t want to be judgmental, I just could not in good conscience agree to something like this, since I have serious doubts that raising the child as a practicing Catholic is even possible. At best, her father would try to influence her well while the mother would just confuse anything good her father does for her. At worst, her formation would just be completely neglected.
Incidentally, please pray for this situation. It involves my in-laws, and there is an incredible mess that requires a tremendous amount of grace.
The questions:
(1) My understanding is that a child who has reached the age of reason has to (a) decide on their own whether or not to receive Baptism and (b) has to go through a program of Catechesis, something like an RCIA for children, before being received into the Church during the Easter Vigil. Is this understanding incorrect? If this is a rule, are there exceptions that are ever made?
(2) Should a parish be Baptizing children at this age if there is a reason to believe they would not be brought up Catholic?
(3) There is a decent chance that, if she is to be Baptized, my wife and I would be asked to be her godparents. Respectfully, I don’t want to do that, because I am incredibly skeptical that she will be given decent formation in the Catholic faith at home. Is this a sufficient reason to refuse being a child’s godparent? I don’t want to be judgmental, I just could not in good conscience agree to something like this, since I have serious doubts that raising the child as a practicing Catholic is even possible. At best, her father would try to influence her well while the mother would just confuse anything good her father does for her. At worst, her formation would just be completely neglected.
Incidentally, please pray for this situation. It involves my in-laws, and there is an incredible mess that requires a tremendous amount of grace.