Daughter getting baptized at church camp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steveabrous
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Steveabrous

Guest
My daughter is 12 years old. She is being raised catholic and was baptized as an infant. She has Cerebral palsey and has emotional issues. My wife is protestant and every summer my Daughter goes to a Baptist summer camp. She just called and told us she wanted to get baptized. I told her there is no reason to since she already is and it wouldn’t do anything but I 'm not going to say no. She said she is going to do it. Does this cause any problem as far as the Catholic church goes?
 
I am pretty sure that attempted re-baptism of someone who is already validly baptized is an objectively grave sin. As a responsible Catholic father you should urge her NOT to go through with it. Though if she does it, her emotional issues may reduce her culpability.
 
You can’t be automatically excummunicated for heresy until you are 16…I’m not sure what you are asking exactly? Perhaps you are feeling guilt for not standing up for the truth?
 
It would be pointless to attempt to “re-baptize” her. Urge her strongly not to do it. Please, please urge her. [edited]
 
Steveabrous said:
My daughter is 12 years old. She is being raised catholic and was baptized as an infant. She has Cerebral palsey and has emotional issues. My wife is protestant and every summer my Daughter goes to a Baptist summer camp. She just called and told us she wanted to get baptized. I told her there is no reason to since she already is and it wouldn’t do anything but I 'm not going to say no. She said she is going to do it. Does this cause any problem as far as the Catholic church goes?
Click to expand...
You are the Catholic, father, and head of the household. You can and should forbid it. Of course the Church does not approve of such a thing. There is only one baptism.
 
Can you contact the people in charge of the camp? Tell them your daughter has already been baptized, and you have grave objections to this.
 
Does she have the capacity to understand that she is already baptized and that theologically there is no such thing as rebaptism? I’m sure she is being told by the Baptists that her infant baptism doesn’t count, as they only support “believers baptism”.
 
holyfamily1 said:
It would be pointless to attempt to “re-baptize” her. Urge her strongly not to do it. Please, please urge her. Whether or not we want to face it, Protestants are heretics.
Click to expand...
Protestantism is a heresy. Protestants are not heretics. CCC 817, 818
 
Steveabrous said:
My daughter is 12 years old. She is being raised catholic and was baptized as an infant. She has Cerebral palsey and has emotional issues. My wife is protestant and every summer my Daughter goes to a Baptist summer camp. She just called and told us she wanted to get baptized. I told her there is no reason to since she already is and it wouldn’t do anything but I 'm not going to say no. She said she is going to do it. Does this cause any problem as far as the Catholic church goes?
Click to expand...
Even if she insisted on getting re-baptized against your advice, it won’t cancel out her baptism in the Catholic Church. Baptism is permanent and cannot be undone. You would have to trust her to the mercy of God whose knows whether or not she had knowledge of committing a sin against the Holy Spirit. Who knows what could be effecting her desire to be re-baptized at camp.
 
What I have found is that protestant faiths convince people that if they were baptised as an infant that they somehow were denied the right to accept Christ and now must do so through being baptised again to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. I would also suspect pear pressure comes in to play as well.

Since your daughter is 12, I assume that she has recieved the Eucharist. Explain to her that one , she is already part of the body of Christ in her baptism and second, each time she she recieves she is accepting Christ as her personal lord and Savior.

She has been given a mixed message, an I am certain she is confused. You can do your best to tell her otherwise, but in a way of speaking she is surrounded in the Lions den and at 12, it would take a strong will to stand up to the councellos and preachers at camp.
A personsal phone call to them might help and strongly suggest that they need to respect her Catholic beliefs and raising.

Deacon Frank
 
I would call the camp and let them know that you expect them to respect her catholic baptism and also I would not let her go back to that camp I would do something fun with her next summer perhaps you could have lunch once a week and study the scripture and read the catechism together.
 
Steveabrous said:
My daughter is 12 years old. She is being raised catholic and was baptized as an infant. She has Cerebral palsey and has emotional issues. My wife is protestant and every summer my Daughter goes to a Baptist summer camp. She just called and told us she wanted to get baptized. I told her there is no reason to since she already is and it wouldn’t do anything but I 'm not going to say no. She said she is going to do it. Does this cause any problem as far as the Catholic church goes?
Click to expand...
I’m sorry to butt in here with my controversial self (I guess I’ll get more red dots, dunno) but…

this is a CHILD with a severely compromised life. If she is TRULY choosing this baptism, it means she has the cognitive ability to accept Jesus and love him with her entire heart and in this camp she is being taught that full immersion, a conscious choice, is necessary. I find it impossible to believe God would fault her in any way. This fight belongs between you and your wife: you have a serious problem here.

People who choose full immersion baptism in any church where Jesus is greatly loved and His words are acknowledged as truth, where He is savior and king, do so because they have come to believe it is required. I was so baptized 20 years ago in an evangelical congregation! Does that make me a candidate for HELL? I don’t THINK so. I know my confessor certainly didn’t think so when I did a full life review with him two years ago. I did it out of obedience and complete trust and love for Jesus. We, Catholics, re-confirm our baptismal vows every single year. While we don’t get physically watered (so to speak), we re-affirm the vows made FOR US by our godparents while we were infants.

I think too much legalism creates fear and terror. I think God honors the hearts of those who love Him so long as their choices don’t revolve around flying into buildings and blowing themselves up along with innocent people. I think this child is innocent and, if she is truly making this step FROM FREE WILL and not from indoctrination or ANY PRESSURE WHATEVER from the people who run this camp, is totally free from any error.

You and your wife need a series of sit-downs. You can’t raise a child in an atmosphere of division in religious tradition and dogma. Something’s gotta give here. So now: awaiting the axe, or whatever else will befall me. (sigh)
 
ellzeena said:
I’m sorry to butt in here with my controversial self (I guess I’ll get more red dots, dunno) but…

this is a CHILD with a severely compromised life. If she is TRULY choosing this baptism, it means she has the cognitive ability to accept Jesus and love him with her entire heart and in this camp she is being taught that full immersion, a conscious choice, is necessary. I find it impossible to believe God would fault her in any way. This fight belongs between you and your wife: you have a serious problem here.

People who choose full immersion baptism in any church where Jesus is greatly loved and His words are acknowledged as truth, where He is savior and king, do so because they have come to believe it is required. I was so baptized 20 years ago in an evangelical congregation! Does that make me a candidate for HELL? I don’t THINK so. I know my confessor certainly didn’t think so when I did a full life review with him two years ago. I did it out of obedience and complete trust and love for Jesus. We, Catholics, re-confirm our baptismal vows every single year. While we don’t get physically watered (so to speak), we re-affirm the vows made FOR US by our godparents while we were infants.

I think too much legalism creates fear and terror. I think God honors the hearts of those who love Him so long as their choices don’t revolve around flying into buildings and blowing themselves up along with innocent people. I think this child is innocent and, if she is truly making this step FROM FREE WILL and not from indoctrination or ANY PRESSURE WHATEVER from the people who run this camp, is totally free from any error.

You and your wife need a series of sit-downs. You can’t raise a child in an atmosphere of division in religious tradition and dogma. Something’s gotta give here. So now: awaiting the axe, or whatever else will befall me. (sigh)
Click to expand...
The problem isn’t my wife, she has been very respectful and supportive in that she is already baptized. I have told her this several time (My daughter). I personally view this as something that is irrelevant. She was baptized and going into a pool and re-enacting it isn’t going to change that. i see it as renewing like we do in mass. My concern is how the church will view this. She says this is something she wanted to do and no one pressured her.
 
Steveabrous said:
The problem isn’t my wife, she has been very respectful and supportive in that she is already baptized. I have told her this several time (My daughter). I personally view this as something that is irrelevant. She was baptized and going into a pool and re-enacting it isn’t going to change that. i see it as renewing like we do in mass. My concern is how the church will view this. She says this is something she wanted to do and no one pressured her.
Click to expand...
The Church views rebaptism as a sacrilege, it’s an entirely different matter from renewing baptismal promises. Obviously, she wouldn’t be canonically penalized at her age, but it’s still objectively a grave sin.
 
=Steveabrous;10993424]My daughter is 12 years old. She is being raised catholic and was baptized as an infant. She has Cerebral palsey and has emotional issues. My wife is protestant and every summer my Daughter goes to a Baptist summer camp. She just called and told us she wanted to get baptized. I told her there is no reason to since she already is and it wouldn’t do anything but I 'm not going to say no. She said she is going to do it. Does this cause any problem as far as the Catholic church goes?
Click to expand...
There seems to be SERIOUS emotional issues in play here. This is someting to discuss with YOUR priest ASAP.

God Bless you,

patrick /PJM
 
Perhaps a public declaration of faith would avoid committing sacrilege, but fill her need to participate/commit to the Lord in more understandable/emotionally involved way for her?
 
ellzeena said:
This is a CHILD with a severely compromised life. If she is TRULY choosing this baptism, it means she has the cognitive ability to accept Jesus and love him with her entire heart and in this camp she is being taught that full immersion, a conscious choice, is necessary. I find it impossible to believe God would fault her in any way. This fight belongs between you and your wife: you have a serious problem here.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It seems difficult for the child to send her to a Baptist summer camp and expect her to NOT have the Baptist experience while there. Possibly a call to the counselors regarding your Catholic wishes would be helpful, but if this is your daughter’s decision, it may happen anyway.
 
SecretaryMonday said:
Agreed. It seems difficult for the child to send her to a Baptist summer camp and expect her to NOT have the Baptist experience while there. Possibly a call to the counselors regarding your Catholic wishes would be helpful, but if this is your daughter’s decision, it may happen anyway.
Click to expand...
yep! What was I thinking?
 
From what my RCIA director told me, it’s not uncommon for some Catholics to lament that they don’t remember their baptism. They wish they had made the choice to be baptized as teens/adults. Mainly so they have a memory of the experience.

I can understand wanting to send your kid some place Christian; however, I don’t understand putting your kid in this position in the first place. It’s inevitable that she’d want to be like her friends and “get dunked” (baptized), regardless if she “believed” or not. That’s why I would never send my son to a Baptist camp in the first place. :banghead:

I can also understand if the camp was geared for kids w/CP or other special needs, but even then, I’d watch out because the kids have other challenges and they could be easily manipulated.

I really don’t get why you don’t bring her home, explain that she isn’t a Baptist and get a refund. :confused: She’s 12. She’ll get over it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top