Forbidden to attend Catholic Baptism

  • Thread starter Thread starter Episcopalian
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Are we a religion of a book?

Catholics are not Sola Catechism
 
Last edited:
No. That is NOT church teaching and frankly, I think it was out of order for the parents to say that to you unless it was a private Baptism. ANYONE is invited to attend Mass. You may not participate in the Eucharist unless you are a practicing Catholic, but everyone is welcome to come. Is it possible that they were concerned that you would not respect that rule and try to receive the Eucharist? I have heard of other Catholics not inviting certain friends or family members to events at their church because they were afraid that the person would insist on receiving the Eucharist, or would get very upset and cause a fuss if they weren’t allowed to. This is literally the only justification I could come up with for this and it’s a pretty big stretch! I’m actually really mad reading this post because while I have no idea what was their real reason they didn’t want to invite you, it was absolutely wrong to lie to you in this way and possibly spread false Church teachings. That is the very definition of scandal!
 
Nope, the Catholic Church welcomes everyone to attend Mass or liturgies.

You know that the Church teaches that marriage is valid between a man and a woman, that sex outside of marriage (regardless of the gender of on’s partner) is fornication. We do not do a background screen before someone attends Mass or witnesses a baptism. Heck, they even let sinners like me in!!!

As long as you and your partner are not planning on making out during the Baptism (assuming you have good manners 🙂 ) I cannot fathom why you would be banned.

Pray for your family because sadly this sort of shunning does not bring people closer to heaven.
 
TheLittleLady said:
40.png
Cor_ad_Cor:
I would reconsider your definition of a dear friend,
Click to expand...
Amen. This.
Click to expand...
It’s an act of Mercy to call one to avoid scandal and disrespecting Baptism.

First respect Baptism by turning from sin, and then support another’s Baptism.

OP, you are welcome and encouraged to reconcile and support Baptism!
 
Loud-living-dogma said:
believe you are mistaken. Excommunicated people are indeed “shunned”. Not that the OP is excommunicated (to the best of my knowledge). So, it does appear that the Catholic Church does have a tradition of shunning - - isn’t that what excommunication is?
“An excommunicated person also cannot be received into a public association of the Christian faithful (#316.1).”
Click to expand...
Excommunication is not “shunning”. The excommunicated person is free to come to Mass any old time. Catholics are allowed to talk to him and socialize with him, etc. He just can’t receive the Eucharist or other sacraments until he gets back into good standing with the Church. The point of excommunication is to let a person know he has removed himself from the Church and to encourage him to return. (hardly “shunning”) You may want to read this excellent Canon Law Made Easy post on it, in order to get the more correct understanding.


A “public association of the Christian faithful” is a group of Catholics who according to canon law join together to jointly foster a more perfect life, promote public worship or Christian teaching, or devote themselves to other apostolic works. It’s kind of a “well duh” that if you are not in good standing with the Church then you can’t be running around joining groups for the “faithful” to be promoting Christian teaching or the spiritual life. You need to get your own self right with the Church before you can do any of those things.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Last I checked, sinners are not barred from attending Mass or Baptisms. If you can prove your stand with a doctrinal or dogmatic statement, I am open to correction. If you cannot, this is simply your opinion. Good luck with evangelization if your plan is to bar all sinners from coming to Mass or another Liturgy.

We must reconcile before receiving the Eucharist.
 
You are missing the point.

Unless the OP would attend this Mass regardless of the Baptism. But attending the Baptism seems to be the reason. So respecting who is bringing their child for Baptism means something.

The parents don’t wish for someone to openly contradict what Baptism stands for. I understand this.
 
TheLittleLady said:
sinners are not barred from attending Mass or Baptisms.
Click to expand...
Sinners are actually encouraged to come to Mass.

If the Baptism is at a public Mass, anyone is free to walk in and attend it; the only person who can throw someone out is the pastor, and the only reason he would do that is if someone was causing a big disturbance or committing crimes in the church. If one wants to avoid conflict with a friend who has requested that you please not show up, one can always just sit somewhere else in the church, assuming it’s large.
 
As been said by many Catholic posters here, it is not the official Church’s teaching. Having said that, in my view your friend may have a personal reason for not wanting you to come. I can understand that. Probably he did want any complication by your presence in the Baptism of their daughter. It is good for you to respect their wish though technically the Church do not stop you from attending.
 
That’s fairly stated.

This isn’t about formal Teaching.

If the OP simply wants to attend a Mass, then it has nothing to do with the Baptism. And there are usually a few different Masses to choose from.

Obviously, the OP wants to attend the Baptism. For what reason? To support, or to just watch for entertainment?
 
Episcopalian said:
I was very disappointed and hurt that it happened, and considering that my church consistently baptises, confirms gay people and children of gay folks, it was jarring to say the least!
Click to expand...
And the Catholic Church Teaches that homosexual relationships are gravely sinful. SSA in itself is not sinful, when abstained from acting upon.
 
OP, I presume by your profile you are Episcopalian.

As we have said above, you are always welcome to attend Catholic Mass, as long as you don’t receive Holy Communion as only Catholics in a state of grace may receive that.

Also, “being gay” in the sense of just having feelings for the same sex is not a sin in the Catholic Church; however, having sex with a same-sex partner is considered grave sin.

You should be aware that many Catholics have shifted over to the Episcopalian Church in USA for the exact reason that it appears similar to the Catholic Church in terms of the liturgy, etc (although Catholics do NOT consider it the same or interchangeable at all), but the Episcopalian church is much more gay-friendly, has openly gay clergy living in gay relationships, recognizes gay marriage, etc.

It is my understanding that not only the Catholic Church but also some of the Anglican churches do not agree with the Episcopal Church on this issue.

Just noting this for your information, since it seems to be news to you.
 
Last edited:
rcwitness said:
Obviously, the OP wants to attend the Baptism. For what reason? To support, or to just watch for entertainment?
Click to expand...
It’s rather obvious to me that the OP wants to attend in a supportive manner. Your comment from left field about entertainment was rude, unless I’m missing something. Why are you attacking the OP for asking questions when he doesn’t understand why he was hurt in the first place?
 
If the parents find that his attendance is counter supportive, then he is better off not attending. Especially when his lifestyle choice contradicts Baptism according to our faith.
 
Even if that really was the reason the OPs friend asked him not to come, it was still wrong of them to state that it was Church teaching that gay people may not attend a Baptism. That may be his friend’s personal preference, but it is NOT Church teaching and should not be represented as such.
 
Last edited:
Episcopalian said:
One of my dearest friends got married last year and just had his beautiful baby daughter. Everyone is extremely excited and eager to meet her.

However, I was told that I was unable to attend her baptism ceremony with my same sex partner because it would create a scandal and undermine the Church’s moral authority.
Click to expand...
“Dearest friend?” A close friend is a person who cares for you and your feelings and your choices in life. This “dear friend” was acting on his own accord and I personally think that he was the one (or his wife or family) that was not comfortable with you and your partner being there, so he used the scandal, church moral authority card on you. The church would not see it that way. Like others had said, no one is asked questions before they attend Mass or any other church rites. Your “dear friend” did you wrong, sorry to say. Even if it was an issue with his wife and the family, he should have been a man and stood up for you and your partner and I believe that was the real issue.
Episcopalian said:
I was told that since we are not gay men but that we’re “children of God led astray into sin”. With that in mind, we could potentially influence others that attended the baptism to sin as well.
Click to expand...
What garbage! How could you and your partner potentially influence others at the baptism, unless you use the time to promote gay relationships, which I would think you would not do.

Move on and find friends that support you and are honest with you.
 
I wonder if that was misinterpreted, and maybe what was said was he didn’t want him to attend his church baptism because he was gay. I’m frequently guilty of innocently misinterpreting myself. This can be looked up online also I would presume. Anyway, God bless that beautiful baby who was welcomed to the church.
edit- oh never mind it seems he stated his friend said a bunch of other things too and not just that. But maybe the friend tried to explain it in ways were not hearing.
 
Last edited:
If the OP wanted to attend the Baptism, in support, yet the child’s parent does not consider that supportive, yet a contradiction, then I understand that parent’s choice.

The parent, most likely, was not telling the OP that he may not attend a Mass, but rather requesting that he refrain from appearing to support a Catholic Baptism, when in reality is living in a manner contrary to what the Catholic Church professes about Baptism.

This is such a fundamental issue.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top