HELP! Baptism questions

[jay29]

As of yesturday I am an uncle for the first time!!! I am very happy.

Now the complex part. My brother and his GIRLFRIEND, are not married, obviously. However, he is Eastern Orthodox and she is a catholic, both non practising. They want to get their newborn baptized in the Catholic Church. They are worried that they won’t be able to because they are not married and do not go to church regularly, if at all.

What are the church’s rules in light of these?

I have the** honorable** duty to lead the baby to baptism…

 

[Franciscan]

**

They want to get their newborn baptized in the Catholic Church.

**

Not to be mean but why? Why do they want to?

The answer is key. Hopefully it’s for more than cultural reasons, or because they want to make others happy.

Hopefully it’s based on their respect for the Church. This little baby may be the way God brings them to their senses.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Code of Canon Law, canon 868:
ҤI For an infant to be baptised lawfully it is required:
1º that the parents, or at least one of them, or the person who lawfully holds their place, give their consent;
2º that there be a realistic hope that the child will be brought up in the catholic religion. If such hope is truly lacking, the baptism is, in accordance with the provisions of particular law, to be deferred and the parents advised of the reason for this.
§ 2 An infant of catholic parents, indeed even of non-catholic parents, is lawfully baptised in danger of death, even if the parents are opposed to it.”

(From The Code of Canon Law: New Revised English Translation, HarperCollins Liturgical, 1997, ISBN 0-00-599375-X, page 201).

So the situation will need to be assessed on whether there is a reasonable hope that the child will be brought up in the catholic religion.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

As of yesturday I am an uncle for the first time!!! I am very happy.

Now the complex part. My brother and his GIRLFRIEND, are not married, obviously. However, he is Eastern Orthodox and she is a catholic, both non practising. They want to get their newborn baptized in the Catholic Church. They are worried that they won’t be able to because they are not married and do not go to church regularly, if at all.

What are the church’s rules in light of these?

I have the** honorable** duty to lead the baby to baptism…

The fact that they are not Married or even that they do not practice their faith would not prevent the child from being Baptized. However, he does not matter. She being Catholic has an obligation being a Catholic (single) parent to have the child Baptized in the Catholic Church. The Pastor of the Catholic church will however most likely suggest delaying the Baptism until she returns to the practice of the faith, assuring him that the child will actually be raised IN in Catholic Faith.

Since she should be looked at as a single Catholic parent by the pastor. You might suggest that you go with her to speak with him, explaining that you will help her return to the practice of the Catholic faith and will assist her in raising the child in the Catholic Faith.

 

[marci]

Since she should be looked at as a single Catholic parent by the pastor. You might suggest that you go with her to speak with him, explaining that you will help her return to the practice of the Catholic faith and will assist her in raising the child in the Catholic Faith.

This is great advise. I would only add that as a catholic, even if she is not practicing now, she should be fully aware of the consequences of not being baptized. Baptism removes original sin, which I’m sure you are aware, so I would continue talking to priests until you find one who will baptize your godchild.

There is nothing like having a baby to make one realize the importance of the catholic faith, and the desire to pass that truth on to one’s children. How many faithfull catholics didn’t frequent mass when they were young adults and maybe even newly married, but as soon as the babies were born the realization of the responsibility to bring up their children in the faith comes home. All of a sudden they go to church again, they send their kids to catechism, and become true members of the church, due in great part to the fact that they want their children to be armed with the true faith.

P.S.

When my mother was having her children, during the 70’s, priests would come to the hospital and baptize babies and not just the ones who were ill. It was not unusual for one to have their baby baptized shorty after birth. Now it seems more and more people are waiting months to baptize.
I think it is horrible to deny this sacrament to babies or make them wait months.

CCC 1250 “Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shorty after birth.”

 

[puzzleannie]

As of yesturday I am an uncle for the first time!!! I am very happy.

Now the complex part. My brother and his GIRLFRIEND, are not married, obviously. However, he is Eastern Orthodox and she is a catholic, both non practising. They want to get their newborn baptized in the Catholic Church.
What are the church’s rules in light of these?

I have the** honorable** duty to lead the baby to baptism…

the rules of the Eastern Orthodox are, I believe, stricter than those of the Catholic Church. If the father was an Eastern Rite Catholic, the child would be baptized into his rite, I don’t know what advice the Catholic pastor would give. Their first step is to consult with their pastor. In the Catholic Church it is not a requirement that the parents be married in the church, or even Catholic, but at least one must give permission, and must give evidence to the pastor that they intend to raise the child Catholic and teach him to know and practice the faith. If the parents refuse to regularize their marriage that could give the pastor reason to doubt their intentions and to delay (not deny) baptism on that grounds. If the father goes back to the practice of his own faith EO will not recognize the child’s Catholic baptism.

 

[1ke]

The bottom line, in a situation like this it is at the discretion of the priest. Canon Law states that there must be a “well founded hope” that the child will be raised in the Catholic Church.

Their lack of Mass attendance would not give me that hope. The fact that they are not married is not an impediment per se.

So, bottom line-- they can approach the local parish and ask for baptism and then the priest will determine if the Sacrament can be administered or not.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Perhaps if the two parents went to a priest and talked with him, it might trigger a spark that would lead them back to the Church?

Let’s pray it happens!

Jim