My granddaughter is 2 months old and has lesbian moms. They are going to give her a dedication in another religion. I heard that we can baptise the baby on our own. Can we???
2/ there must be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion; if such hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be delayed according to the prescripts of particular law after the parents have been advised about the reason.
The Church does not want to baptize children against the will of both parents/guardians. Baptism makes the child a Catholic. Baptism presumes that the child will be raised as a Catholic. If both parents/guardians do not want to baptize and raise their child as Catholic then why make the child a Catholic? It would make the child Catholic in name only while he or she was raised in an entirely different faith community.
It should be noted that the mere fact a gay couple is presenting a child for baptism in the Catholic Church is not considered an automatic obstacle to Catholic baptism according to the USCCB:
Baptism of children in the care of same-sex couples presents a serious pastoral
concern. Nevertheless, the Church does not refuse the Sacrament of Baptism to these
children, but there must be a well founded hope that the children will be brought up in
the Catholic religion.
The rights of the parents/guardians has to be respected. The Ordinary Minister of baptism is clergy (Can. 861 §1), lay people should only baptize when someone is in danger of death. And finally, Catholic baptism for a child that will never be raised Catholic would seem to be contradictory.
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