Can my partner take part in the baptism of our daughter?

[jnwildot]

My partner and I are unmarried and have a daughter. We intend to get married once we are both independent enough and can support our child well. We want to get our daughter baptized, but I heard only the mother will be allowed to participate in the rite. Is this true or can my baby’s father, who is being very supportive, also take part in the rite? He is not a Catholic but a devoted Christian and has no objections to our baby being baptized as a Catholic, he just wants to be involved.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

So far as I know, there is no problem with having a non-Catholic father participate in a Catholic baptism in the role of the child’s father. There is a problem however with you calling this man to whom you are not married your “partner” and continuing to have a “partneresque” relationship with him outside of marriage. The reason you may have been told that he could not participate was concern for the potential scandal it will give to the congregation that an unmarried “couple” is illegitimately acting as a married couple during a Catholic religious rite.

I can only recommend to you that you cease calling this man your “partner” and that you and he commit yourselves to chastity, in preparation for your eventual marriage. Not only will that avert scandal, but it will also prepare you to be able to give your daughter a truly Catholic doctrinal and moral formation.