"Blessing" prior to Baptism?

[MarionC]

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are having a “blessing” ceremony for their child. Sadly, we are estranged from them and I am concerned that this is being done in lieu of baptism.

Is this done in the Catholic Church prior to baptism? I am hoping that they are not going to some new age or non-denominational church. Unfortunately, the only family member who does have contact with them does not always tell us the whole story.

 

[Seatuck]

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are having a “blessing” ceremony for their child. Sadly, we are estranged from them and I am concerned that this is being done in lieu of baptism.

Is this done in the Catholic Church prior to baptism? I am hoping that they are not going to some new age or non-denominational church. Unfortunately, the only family member who does have contact with them does not always tell us the whole story.

It’s not a Catholic thing . We baptize our infants. Protestant denominations that do not believe in infant baptism have a blessing or dedication ceremony. I imagine not christian groups might do something as well but I don’t know.

Sorry for your family difficulties.

 

[Aramis]

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are having a “blessing” ceremony for their child. Sadly, we are estranged from them and I am concerned that this is being done in lieu of baptism.

Is this done in the Catholic Church prior to baptism? I am hoping that they are not going to some new age or non-denominational church. Unfortunately, the only family member who does have contact with them does not always tell us the whole story.

Sounds like Mormon, actually. The LDS give a “Blessing and Namegiving” to infants, including a blessing akin to the Ritual of Exorcism that is part of Catholic Baptism; Mormons do not baptise until about age 8.

Yes, it’s probably in lieu of baptism. Yes, it’s problematic.

 

[MarionC]

Thanks, all, for the replies. I feared as much but hoped that perhaps the Church had added this as some sort of baptismal preparation.
I have no (name removed by moderator)ut in their lives and am sorry for the child.

 

[MomblessedX3]

Sounds like Mormon, actually. The LDS give a “Blessing and Namegiving” to infants, including a blessing akin to the Ritual of Exorcism that is part of Catholic Baptism; Mormons do not baptise until about age 8.

Yes, it’s probably in lieu of baptism. Yes, it’s problematic.

I agree this does sound LDS. I just recently found out that the parents don’t even have to have knowledge of the blessing of an infant. Some of my extended family is mormon and when watching my infant for me they had the ‘elders’ meet and do the blessing. She is now 12 and I just found out.

I do not know of any other religons that do blessings of infants instead of baptisms.

 

[Aramis]

I agree this does sound LDS. I just recently found out that the parents don’t even have to have knowledge of the blessing of an infant. Some of my extended family is mormon and when watching my infant for me they had the ‘elders’ meet and do the blessing. She is now 12 and I just found out.

I do not know of any other religons that do blessings of infants instead of baptisms.

Some hard-line fundamentalist sects also reject infant baptism, on the grounds that infants can’t consent.

 

[Phemie]

I do not know of any other religons that do blessings of infants instead of baptisms.

The Salvation Army dedicates infants but they don’t celebrate baptism.

Now there is something that I experienced in a parish I attended one summer: the Rite of Baptism was spread over at least 2 Sundays. I happened to be there for the first part when the parents came to name their child, request baptism and the baby was claimed in the name of Jesus, signed with the Cross and anointed with the Oil of Catechumens. The actual pouring/immersing would not happen until the next week.

I’ve looked for anything that would indicate that that was either a valid practice or an abuse of the sacrament but haven’t found anything.

 

[Aramis]

The rubrics for baptism during the mass are approved by the ICEL for the English-speaking world… and local alterations are not permitted, per the Vatican II documents.

Having looked at my dad’s ICEL based Rite of Baptism for the Roman Church (he’s a RC Deacon) in the past, it doesn’t explicitly permit splitting, so such splitting would likely be an abuse.

 

[Phemie]

The rubrics for baptism during the mass are approved by the ICEL for the English-speaking world… and local alterations are not permitted, per the Vatican II documents.

Having looked at my dad’s ICEL based Rite of Baptism for the Roman Church (he’s a RC Deacon) in the past, it doesn’t explicitly permit splitting, so such splitting would likely be an abuse.

It wasn’t an English speaking parish so ICEL wouldn’t come into play and I’ve known the rules in a specific diocese to be different for the English parishes from what they were for the French parishes (the English parishes had had to stop offering General Absolution twice a year while the French ones hadn’t, pending response from Rome on a specific question).

 

[bpbasilphx]

In the Byzantine tradition, there is a prayer at the official naming of the child on the eighth day of its birth. This can be done in Church, in the home, or most frequently, just before the baptism itself.

There are also prayers on the day of birth, and on the third day as well.

There is also the blessing of the mother on the 40th day after birth.

 

[stbruno]

I know in the Hispanic Catholic tradition, there is also a blessing for 3 year olds as well.

 

[Aramis]

It wasn’t an English speaking parish so ICEL wouldn’t come into play and I’ve known the rules in a specific diocese to be different for the English parishes from what they were for the French parishes (the English parishes had had to stop offering General Absolution twice a year while the French ones hadn’t, pending response from Rome on a specific question).

In general, the ICEL has the same options as the latin sacramentaries. So the lack of any allowance in english tends to indicate a lack of it in the latin.

 

[puzzleannie]

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are having a “blessing” ceremony for their child. Sadly, we are estranged from them and I am concerned that this is being done in lieu of baptism.

Is this done in the Catholic Church prior to baptism?.

NO. Baptims is the Sacrament of the Church by which the child is cleansed of original sin, becomes and adopted child of God and also a member of the Church, is born to new life in Christ, and is sealed with an indelible mark on the soul that can never be erased signifying her belonging to God. The blessing such as it is is part of the sacramental rite, signing with the sign of the Cross. This is actually done before Baptism with adults (including children over age 7) who are preparing for Baptism through RCIA, as part of rites that punctuate the process.

Since no info was given on whether or not this baby’s parents are Catholic, no comment is offered.

as stated there may be ethnic traditions about blessing babies, and there used to be a custom of “churching” where the mother and new baby were blessed the first time she brought him to Mass, usually at least 6 weeks after birth, but in those days Baptism was usually done immediately after birth, and the mother often was not even present since she was still in bed. Nowdays that blessing is part of the baptismal rite.

 

[FrDavid96]

The rubrics for baptism during the mass are approved by the ICEL for the English-speaking world… and local alterations are not permitted, per the Vatican II documents.

Having looked at my dad’s ICEL based Rite of Baptism for the Roman Church (he’s a RC Deacon) in the past, it doesn’t explicitly permit splitting, so such splitting would likely be an abuse.

Yes, and no. You’re absolutely correct that intentionally “splitting” the various parts of the Rite of Baptism cannot be done. (exception for an emergency baptism, where the rites can be supplied later if appropriate).

However, there’s nothing keeping a priest or deacon from blessing a newborn before Baptism. The Book of Blessings and the Roman Ritual both contain just such blessings. The Church encourages them. They’re simply not printed in the Baptismal rituals (or I’ve never noticed them there)

Having said that, it does seem more like the original poster is talking about something done outside the Church. In that case, it’s certainly problematic.

 

[Aramis]

Yes, and no. You’re absolutely correct that intentionally “splitting” the various parts of the Rite of Baptism cannot be done. (exception for an emergency baptism, where the rites can be supplied later if appropriate).

However, there’s nothing keeping a priest or deacon from blessing a newborn before Baptism. The Book of Blessings and the Roman Ritual both contain just such blessings. The Church encourages them. They’re simply not printed in the Baptismal rituals (or I’ve never noticed them there)

Having said that, it does seem more like the original poster is talking about something done outside the Church. In that case, it’s certainly problematic.

Doing so ritually during a mass, however, would be an abuse. It was specifically in relation to the following question:

Now there is something that I experienced in a parish I attended one summer: the Rite of Baptism was spread over at least 2 Sundays. I happened to be there for the first part when the parents came to name their child, request baptism and the baby was claimed in the name of Jesus, signed with the Cross and anointed with the Oil of Catechumens. The actual pouring/immersing would not happen until the next week.

I’ve looked for anything that would indicate that that was either a valid practice or an abuse of the sacrament but haven’t found anything.

 

[FrDavid96]

Doing so ritually during a mass, however, would be an abuse. It was specifically in relation to the following question:

Aaah.

The system didn’t quote that part in your original response, and I thought it was a general response to the original post…

To realy discuss this topic, we do need more clarification as to just what is being done here.

MarionC: I hope you can get such clarification.

 

[MarionC]

I hope I can get some clarification as well. The father of the child was raised Catholic, but we have no information about his girlfriend, the mother of the child. So we only have second hand information, and it’s not always accurate.

It’s really sad, as this is my husband’s brother. He has chosen to isolate himself from most family members. Now that there is a precious new child, it is especially heartbreaking.