Can grandson be baptized?

[Harsalter]

My daughter is an inactive Mormon and no longer believes in her faith, my son-in-law an inactive baptist. They have a 2 year old son, my wife’s and my grandson.

My wife & I are Catholic and they said they would have no problem with us having him baptized and taking him to Mass every Sunday. I did not want to bring this up with our priest until I had some solid answers if this allowed since the parents are not Catholic and do not plan on becoming Catholic at this time.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Part of what the priest will be looking for in baptizing a baby is whether there is a good reason to believe the child will be brought up as a Catholic.

My personal view is that taking your grandson to Mass on Sunday would not qualify as being brought up Catholic. What about all the everyday things that come up, the little conversations that parents and children have that include teaching about God and the Church, the prayers, and so on. What happens when you grandson starts school and should also be starting formal religious education? Are you going to take him to class every week? I don’t think grandparents can take on the responsibility for his faith formation any more than they can take on the responsibility for his physical well being.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

My daughter is an inactive Mormon and no longer believes in her faith, my son-in-law an inactive baptist. They have a 2 year old son, my wife’s and my grandson.

My wife & I are Catholic and they said they would have no problem with us having him baptized and taking him to Mass every Sunday. I did not want to bring this up with our priest until I had some solid answers if this allowed since the parents are not Catholic and do not plan on becoming Catholic at this time.

That would be up to your pastor. If he knows you well. If you have custody, or watch him everyday, you live near by. The one question is what would prevent your daughter or her husband from simply saying or 4 years from now, “no more” we changed our minds!

 

[1ke]

Canon Law states only that there must be a well founded hope that the infant will be raised in the Catholic faith.

It will be up to the priest to determine whether or not he will baptize the children based solely on your promise as grandparents.

You should at least discuss it with the priest, as it is important to baptize them and raise them Catholic if you can.

 

[stbruno]

Not only that, the parents need to agree to have their son baptized and godparents must be selected who are practicing Catholics that have been confirmed in the faith since they represent the church. No grandparents have the right to secretly have their grandson baptized either. The ideal situation is to have at least one of the parents consider converting to our faith and then through the rite of Christian Initiation, have both the parent and child baptized together. Something to pray for!

 

[Harsalter]

Not only that, the parents need to agree to have their son baptized and godparents must be selected who are practicing Catholics that have been confirmed in the faith since they represent the church.
No grandparents have the right to secretly have their grandson baptized either.

My wife & I are Catholic and they (parents) said they would have no problem with us having him baptized and taking him to Mass every Sunday.

No additonal comment necessary as I already addressed both issues in my original post.

 

[stbruno]

[catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004648/Joyous-Gift-Grandparents/?category=1312](http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004648/Joyous-Gift-Grandparents/?category=1312)

Good book.
Also I highly recommend ordering a gift for your daughter.
A subscription to Faith and Family Magazine. If you just put the name of the magazine in your search engine, you will find a link and you can even get a free copy of one magazine to examine before you permanently subscribe. It’s a great way to introduce the faith of which we profess to your family with lots of great resources. Keep praying.

 

[puzzleannie]

Only the parents can ask for baptism for the child, not grandparents or anyone else.
The parents must give the pastor assurance that the child will be raised Catholic. If such assurance is not forthcoming the pastor must delay (not deny) baptism until such time as the situation changes for the better.

unless the Catholic relative who will be overseeing the child’s education in the Faith is actually living in the home, it is hard to see how the child will be getting that upbringing.

 

[Phemie]

Not only that, the parents need to agree to have their son baptized and godparents must be selected who are practicing Catholics that have been confirmed in the faith since they represent the church. No grandparents have the right to secretly have their grandson baptized either. The ideal situation is to have at least one of the parents consider converting to our faith and then through the rite of Christian Initiation, have both the parent and child baptized together. Something to pray for!

Of course the grandparents could be the godparents.

 

[marytk]

Talk to your pastor. I have a friend who did this. Her daughters agreed to let her raise her grandchildren Catholic. (they both formally told the priest this) SO she had three grandkids baptized. She is VERY involved with raising the kids. (In fact it has been a couple years and she might have custody of one by now)

 

[Harsalter]

Talk to your pastor. I have a friend who did this. Her daughters agreed to let her raise her grandchildren Catholic. (they both formally told the priest this) SO she had three grandkids baptized. She is VERY involved with raising the kids. (In fact it has been a couple years and she might have custody of one by now)

I’ve seen it happen also. And what I see too many times when parents are involved is a baby getting baptized that I have never seen before or seen the parents before, then you don’t see any again until first communion. This situation seems better than “Catholic parents” who have no intention on following up on anything until the next sacrament is scheduled so they can take pictures for their child’s scrapbook. Oh, but it’s okay for cradle Catholics, they have that right as they were “born” into the faith.

Thanks for the replies. We are very involved with this child, he is at our home 3-4 times a week. We are in the ‘Will’ that if something happens to the parents we will have custody of the child and raise him. We were planning on taking him to Mass each & every Sunday and once he is old enough to be involved, take him to every children’s event at the parish, etc. We even had visions of him being an altar boy at some point.

The parents have given permission (although they have no interest) and other than not being religious, are very good parents. This is the only way I see this child getting any Christian education other than the other set of grandparents taking him to a baptist church every now and then. This is my way of insuring this child was raised Catholic instead of an inactive baptist.

My wife & I will think about it further. I am somewhat discouraged and unsure I even want to approach our priest after puzzleannie’s reply. It’s no wonder why our faith is dying in the USA. Being advised that our Church teaches we should do nothing so the parents (even though they gave the grandparents persmission to raise the boy Catholic) allow the kid to be influenced by the other grandparents and be a baptist.

When the parents have decided to leave the child’s religious education to be performed by the grandparents but our Church teaches that we won’t get involved and allow the boy to be lost to the baptists. That is basically what puzzleannie is saying.

I need to close this post as I am getting angry. Now I understand how Martin Luther felt. Our Church needs reform!

 

[Harsalter]

I apologize for my frustration in the last post.

My wife & I have decided not to pursue baptism. We will simply try to be good Catholic examples and make the Catholic faith as exciting to him as can be, teaching him about faith, the Saints, etc.

Thanks everyone for the replies although a couple were frustrating. But they were correct. If an opportunity arises where I can bring up the subject with our priest in a simple chat where I ask just in curiosity, I may try that. But other than that, we are not going to pursue it.

Thanks again.

 

[puzzleannie]

I apologize for my frustration in the last post.

My wife & I have decided not to pursue baptism. We will simply try to be good Catholic examples and make the Catholic faith as exciting to him as can be, teaching him about faith, the Saints, etc.
.

I think your approach is wise. If the children will be growing up in a Mormon household, this is the best way to teach them the truth. If they were in a religiously indifferent household, you would have more success in your original intent. By all means do discuss it with the priest when the opportunity arises.

just a further note, we deal all the time with children in RE and Catholic school who have been baptized by well-meaning relatives, but live in homes where parents live and teach the polar opposite of the Catholic faith, and it sets up a terrible conflict for the children. I truly think in these cases the efforts of said relatives are better directed at the parents, while doing as OP suggests to witness to the children at appropriate opportunities.

 

[SD_Catholic]

I know there are several rules regarding the sacraments in the Catholic Church (especially with the Eucharist), but why would we deny anyone Baptism regardless of who they are or where they came from. With us excepting baptisms of other Christian religions as valid why would the Church not want to baptize everyone they could in the hope that this sacrament would help promote their spiritual growth and eventual conversion into the Church… who knows maybe these children will be used by God to bring the light to their parents.

Harsalter… I would definitely speak with the priest and make sure these rules apply. I guess if they were my grandchildren I would want these children baptized anyway I could… You are doing a great thing… don’t give up because of what you read here.

SD

 

[puzzleannie]

I know there are several rules regarding the sacraments in the Catholic Church (especially with the Eucharist), but why would we deny anyone Baptism regardless of who they are or where they came from.
SD

because canon law prohibits baptizing infants when there is no assurance they will be raised Catholic, and specifies that parents, no one else, bring the infant to the sacraments. In the case cited by OP, as explained several times, were the priest approached (and he has not been, yet) he would likely DELAY not deny baptism. the question has been answered. if you want an apologetics discussion on baptism in general, reference the past threads.

 

[Harsalter]

I think your approach is wise. If the children will be growing up in a Mormon household, this is the best way to teach them the truth. If they were in a religiously indifferent household, you would have more success in your original intent.

In my original post, I said my daughter was an inactive Mormon who no longer believes in mormonism. She has demanded that the mormon church no longer contact her. My entire family were mormons at one time, but we all realized their false teachings.

My daughter and her husband (rasied baptist) is an indifferent as you can get and go to no Church. Why else would they allow us to do this?

But I will just do as I said in my latest post. But I guarantee it dooms him to be a baptist if anything at all.

One question though. At what age is a child allowed to make his own decisions to join the Catholic Church if the parents do not object?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

In my original post, I said my daughter was an inactive Mormon who no longer believes in mormonism. She has demanded that the mormon church no longer contact her. My entire family were mormons at one time, but we all realized their false teachings.

My daughter and her husband (rasied baptist) is an indifferent as you can get and go to no Church. Why else would they allow us to do this?

But I will just do as I said in my latest post. But I guarantee it dooms him to be a baptist if anything at all.

One question though. At what age is a child allowed to make his own decisions to join the Catholic Church if the parents do not object?

About 7 or 8 years old. There is no reason why you cannot have your grandchild attend Mass with you, take him to the church when he is a bit older and show him around. Teach him about the Saints, get him some of the great little Catholic childrens books and even a picture or statue maybe of the Saint you would choose for his Baptismal name when the itme comes. You can even sign him up for childrens “CCD” at 6 or 7 and then let him ask questions. I’m sure that this is what the other Grandparents may be planning to do. The Baptists have many small childrens programs. So you make sure that he is involved in whatever is available at the Catholic parish.

 

[Harsalter]

About 7 or 8 years old. There is no reason why you cannot have your grandchild attend Mass with you, take him to the church when he is a bit older and show him around. Teach him about the Saints, get him some of the great little Catholic childrens books and even a picture or statue maybe of the Saint you would choose for his Baptismal name when the itme comes. You can even sign him up for childrens “CCD” at 6 or 7 and then let him ask questions. I’m sure that this is what the other Grandparents may be planning to do. The Baptists have many small childrens programs. So you make sure that he is involved in whatever is available at the Catholic parish.

Thanks. That’s going to be the plan. I didn’t realize he could do it at age 7 or 8 on his own (with parent’s permission of course). Going to be some grandparent motivating also.

 

[puzzleannie]

this child is very fortunate to have such loving and caring grandparents, and I have no doubt, with your prayer and care and God’s grace, the child through you will be a means of grace for his parents.

 

[Harsalter]

this child is very fortunate to have such loving and caring grandparents, and I have no doubt, with your prayer and care and God’s grace, the child through you will be a means of grace for his parents.

Thank you puzzleannie. We are being run ragged by this two year old as we speak. He bugged his mom & dad today , “I want to see Popi & Mimi” until they brought him over this afternoon and we are having a ball riding the lawn tractor (playing, not working), playing ball, etc.

And he calls all the statues in our yard “Mama Mary” (Our two statues of Our Lady Of Grace, one Our Lady of Guadalupe, one Our Lady of Lourdes, and one Our Lady of Fatima) .