Getting a Baptismal Certificate from a Baptist Church

  • Thread starter Thread starter LizzieM
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LizzieM

Guest
I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am starting RCIA classes in August/September and I know that I will have to provide proof that I was baptized. I was baptized when I was around 7 in a Baptist church.

Neither I nor my parents seem to recall any sort of certificate being given to us. I called the church where I was baptized and they have not gotten back to me yet. I just found an email contact, so hopefully that will prove more productive.

However, I am questioning if they even have this documentation. (I also think that I am going to get 20 questions why I want a copy but that’s another story). If they do not have any sort of documentation what would this affect?

Is it likely that a Baptist church would fail to document a baptism at all? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Thank you.
 
LizzieM said:
I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am starting RCIA classes in August/September and I know that I will have to provide proof that I was baptized. I was baptized when I was around 7 in a Baptist church.

Neither I nor my parents seem to recall any sort of certificate being given to us. I called the church where I was baptized and they have not gotten back to me yet. I just found an email contact, so hopefully that will prove more productive.

However, I am questioning if they even have this documentation. (I also think that I am going to get 20 questions why I want a copy but that’s another story). If they do not have any sort of documentation what would this affect?

Is it likely that a Baptist church would fail to document a baptism at all? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I doubt that there’d be no documentation, they’re probably just busy and taking their sweet time.

The thing is, your parents were there, presumably other witnesses were too. If they can provide statutory declarations and/or other evidence that should be OK even without a certificate.

Most importantly, was it a Trinitarian formula baptism (ie were you baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?) It won’t be considered a valid baptism if this formula wasn’t used.

If it IS an invalid form, you will need to be baptised as part of your initiation into the Catholic Church.

If you were validly baptised but evidence is lacking, you would need to be conditionally baptised, which is basically the same thing as baptism with the additional words ‘If you have not yet been baptised, I baptise you …’
 
Why not try posing this very question in the non-Catholic religion forum? There may be some Baptists cruising that forum that could answer this question easily. Welcome home!
 
LizzieM said:
I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am starting RCIA classes in August/September and I know that I will have to provide proof that I was baptized. I was baptized when I was around 7 in a Baptist church.

Neither I nor my parents seem to recall any sort of certificate being given to us. I called the church where I was baptized and they have not gotten back to me yet. I just found an email contact, so hopefully that will prove more productive.

However, I am questioning if they even have this documentation. (I also think that I am going to get 20 questions why I want a copy but that’s another story). If they do not have any sort of documentation what would this affect?

Is it likely that a Baptist church would fail to document a baptism at all? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I have seen some Baptist Communities that have records and will give a letter, others that flat out refuse because you are becoming CATHOLIC! It all depends.
 
If the Baptist church where you were baptized doesn’t respond within a reasonable amount of time, ask your RCIA leader for an Affidavit form, so that your mother or other witness can attest to your baptism there.
 
I went through the same thing. I was baptized in the Baptist church. I called and they couldn’t send me a baptism certificate but they had records of me and sent a letter certifying that I had indeed been baptized…only after a long lecture from the preacher that I was leaving the Christian faith in becoming Catholic. Oh well, they still sent it. If for some reason they don’t have that documentation your parents can act as witnesses as I think someone else posted.

Best of Luck and Congrats!
 
I wouldn’t assume the office at the Baptist church doesn’t want to help you. They just may not be terribly efficient, or even just dropped the ball this one time.

You don’t need to tell them why you need it; just ask for a letter confirming that you were baptized there, and on what date. If I know anything about going through files, it will help them a great deal if you can supply the date to the greatest specificity possible. Looking through the files for June 1982 is easier than searching all the files for 1982-1983. Smaller tasks have a way of getting to the top of the to-do list more quickly.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
I have seen some Baptist Communities that have records and will give a letter, others that flat out refuse because you are becoming CATHOLIC! It all depends.
Click to expand...
As a former Baptist, this is the problem I ran into. Eventually they sent me a certificate, after refusing to send it to the priest directly.
 
I, too, was afraid of my former Baptist church NOT sending any certificate because of my becoming Catholic (just crossed the Tiber this past EV!).
I prayed about it, and also spoke w/ my RCIA class leader (a Sister), and what I did was call the office, spoke w/ the secretary, said who I was, and said that I was now living in a totally new area (true). I said that in all of my moves in the past 12 years, the certificate (which I do remember getting after the baptism) had been lost in the moves (also true: I still have no idea where it is, and I DID look for it. I wanted nothing more than to just hand over my certificate w/o involving the Baptist church). I was friendly to the secretary, asked for another copy, because it meant so much to me (this is true NOW. Before, it was a memorial of what had occurred, but baptism as a Catholic takes on a whole new meaning, for me, compared w/ the way the Baptist church -and I- viewed/views baptism.
I called MONTHS ahead of time. Do NOT wait till a few weeks before it’s required. I called early and still didn’t receive it soon. I gave them 2 weeks, then called and kindly asked if they had “remembered to send me a copy of the certificate”. She apologized and it was sent out w/in a few days. I also sent them a small donation. It wasn’t in payment, it was in appreciation. And I really care for the people at that church. They are very, very wonderful and God-filled people.
Then I handed it over to Sister, and she gave it back to me w/in a few weeks.
Something I wanted to avoid at all costs was to have to involve my parents and aunt and uncle. They were all witnesses to my baptism. But they do NOT know that I converted. My mother, aunt, and uncle are all staunchly anti-Catholic. When my mother just found out that I was reading about the Church 10 years ago, she called my aunt to have an “intervention” over the phone. I love my parents dearly, but them knowing would definitely destroy family unity.
I will pray for you. I completely understand your situation. I was there about 6 months ago.
Take care, and many, many blessings.

And a warm (almost) welcome to the Church 🙂

blessedjulian
 
Keep calling. Don’t get rude out of frustration. If asked why you need it, simply say something neutral, like, “For my records”. It’s none of their business why you need it. And you certainly don’t need to sit through a theological lecture about the dangers of Catholicism.

Be polite. Be persistent.

I had to get my and my husband’s certificates, one in a Congregational community, one in a Presbyterian community. Other than a stern scowl from the Presbyterian pastor (who seemed to have “stern scowl” as his default expression), there was no drama. And I was in person.
 
There are many protestant denominations that do not keep records of baptism.

Since you were old enough to remember it, you can do that affidavit form. Don’t stress about it. Talk to your RCIA leader if you cannot get a response from the Baptist church in a reasonable timeframe.
 
I remember getting a certificate when I was baptised, but when I wrote to my former Baptist church, they called my parents to inform them (not me) that they didn’t have a copy. (Talk about a sticky moment as I hadn’t told my parents about my taking RCIA classes!):eek:
Thankfully, they did send a letter, addressed to me, that stated that I had joined the church on such and such a date. It didn’t say baptism, but luckily the RCIA director could translate baptist. 😃

My sister is also going to start RCIA this fall and is going to have to do the same! 🙂

Just be persistant! Oh, and Welcome Home! 👍
 
jewelz said:
why is a baptism certificate required in RCIA class?
Click to expand...
Because you can only be baptized once. If you were already validly baptized in another denomination you don’t enter the Catholic Church in the same way as a person who isn’t validly baptized. The non-baptized are dismissed from Mass after the Homily, the baptized are not dismissed.
 
I was raised Southern Baptist. They sent the certificate without comment or problems.
 
LizzieM said:
I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am starting RCIA classes in August/September and I know that I will have to provide proof that I was baptized. I was baptized when I was around 7 in a Baptist church.

Neither I nor my parents seem to recall any sort of certificate being given to us. I called the church where I was baptized and they have not gotten back to me yet. I just found an email contact, so hopefully that will prove more productive.

However, I am questioning if they even have this documentation. (I also think that I am going to get 20 questions why I want a copy but that’s another story). If they do not have any sort of documentation what would this affect?

Is it likely that a Baptist church would fail to document a baptism at all? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I was baptised as a child in the Baptist Church, and we received a certificate at that time. I gave a copy of the certificate to our church when we through RCIA. I’d keep trying at the local level. If they don’t respond, take your concern higher up the denomination. I don’t think that you have to explain to them why you want it, but I wouldn’t be concerned to tell them anyway.
 
LizzieM said:
I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am starting RCIA classes in August/September and I know that I will have to provide proof that I was baptized. I was baptized when I was around 7 in a Baptist church.

Neither I nor my parents seem to recall any sort of certificate being given to us. I called the church where I was baptized and they have not gotten back to me yet. I just found an email contact, so hopefully that will prove more productive.

However, I am questioning if they even have this documentation. (I also think that I am going to get 20 questions why I want a copy but that’s another story). If they do not have any sort of documentation what would this affect?

Is it likely that a Baptist church would fail to document a baptism at all? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
If you can’t get a certificate, two witnesses chould suffice in most parishes.
 
I was Baptised in Baptist Church when I was 18. When I married my Catholic wife, I submitted the Baptism Certificate to get married in the Catholic Church (Eastern rite), they kept my Certificate and later lost it. When I came into communion years later I called the Baptist Church for documentation of my Baptism, they never asked why and just sent me a letter confirming my baptism. No big problem…
 
jewelz said:
why is a baptism certificate required in RCIA class?
Click to expand...
it is not required for the class, it is required to determine whether or not you have been validly baptized, because baptism can be conferred only once. OP has several options if her Baptist Church is one that does not keep such records, including affidavit from witnesses (or her own testimony if she was an adult at the time). If no evidence is forthcoming she will receive a conditional baptism, privately, sometime before receiving the other sacraments of initiation.
 
Well, apparently the e-mail worked. I got a phone call today while I was at work and was told that their answering machine had been acting up. She asked for a mailing address which I sent them so there doesn’t seem to be an issue. I feel bad for being frustrated now.

She didn’t ask why, at least not on my voice mail. I will tell her if she asks. There’s a few people who attend the church that I wonder if I would start getting Chick tracts or something if they found out, but otherwise I think the majority of them would be courteous and willing to help.

And if they don’t, I can think of at least three people who would sign a statement, no problem. My parents know and my friend was baptized at the same time.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top