How do I get a copy of spouses baptism certificate?

[allisongreenwal]

How do I get a copy of former sposes baptism certificate for my annulment when I dont know what chuch he was baptized in?? All i know is it was the Oakland CA area.

 

[1ke]

You don’t. Sacramental records are confidential and cannot be given out to others.

The tribunal can request the documents directly or your former spouse will need to provide them. Talk to your advocate.

 

[ilySHJ]

I called the church to make sure they had the record. No problem at all. The record was from over 50 years ago. They sent the baptismal record.

If you don’t know the exact church - just that it’s the Oakland area, you may need to call several.

 

[Brendan]

You don’t. Sacramental records are confidential and cannot be given out to others. .

Actually, they are not. Sacramental records are public, as Sacraments are a public act of the Church

 

[1ke]

Actually, they are not. Sacramental records are public, as Sacraments are a public act of the Church

This is NOT correct. Sacramental records have strict confidentiality requirements.

 

[CB_Catholic]

This is NOT correct. Sacramental records have strict confidentiality requirements.

They may have strict confidentiality requirements, but they are very easy to obtain with just a phone call. And I’m not talking just one parish here. I’ve obtained records for my husband and adult children over the phone and for myself at different parishes. No problem, no questions asked, no proof required of who was wanting them, no release forms to sign. I’d hardly call that strict confidentiality.

 

[1ke]

They may have strict confidentiality requirements, but they are very easy to obtain with just a phone call. And I’m not talking just one parish here. I’ve obtained records for my husband and adult children over the phone and for myself at different parishes. No problem, no questions asked, no proof required of who was wanting them, no release forms to sign. I’d hardly call that strict confidentiality.

Very sad that people ignore their duties in such a way.

 

[Phemie]

In the 13 years I worked at the parish I was never told that I couldn’t issue a Certificate of Baptism to anyone who requested one. The only register that was considered confidential was the Register of Baptism because it contained things like adoption records and paternity information that was confidential. But even that seems to be iffy because a priest told me that he knew of a baptism that he couldn’t record because it was told to him in confidence by the grandmother who actually baptized her grandchild. If the register was truly confidential, surely he wouldn’t have that concern.

For a while I was very concerned by the fact that we issued certificates of baptism to anyone who requested them, without requiring ID, but that was because my province accepted the certificate of baptism to issue official ID cards and the federal government accepted them to issue Social Insurance Numbers. Once both levels of government stopped accepting the certificates, things stopped worrying me so much.

Of course, then I discovered that all I had to do to get a birth certificate from my home province was to go online and apply for one with the appropriate information and a credit card.