In laws being baptized in a Mega church

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We got an invite from my mother in law to attend her and her husbands baptism this comming sunday. They are being baptized in a Mega non denominational church. MY mother in law has already been baptized so this will be number 2 for her ,im not sure about her husband. I want to go to support them ( even thought they didnt come to our daughters birthday party but that is beside the point) but i feel torn in supporting them because i feel that they are entering a church that doesnt have the fulness that they would receive in the catholic faith. My husband has no qualms as he is agnostic. On the other side i see this as an oppurtunity to talk to them about faith matters, but i dont want to overstep or being offensive or make them feel aliented. Any advice is helpful and appreacited !
Thanks
 
I’ve had similar discussions with my husband. For instance, no mormon in-laws came to my son’s baptism because they think infant baptism is from the devil. We’ve attended Mormon events like baby blessings, waiting for people outside the temple while they get married etc… My husband says “Let’s be the good guys.” and attend their events even if they don’t attend ours. I usually just want to stay home rather than drive three hours for something I don’t believe in. I can see your dilemma.
 
If your MIL is being baptized again, she must be convinced her first baptism wasn’t valid.

Most Christian baptisms are considered sacramentally valid by the Church if they follow the correct formula, even if the baptism is not performed by Catholic clergy (or any Catholic at all). The LDS Church and the Roman Catholic Church, however, have mutually agreed that their two forms of baptism are utterly different, and neither recognizes the other’s as being valid.

IOW: If your FIL had only the baptism he is set to receive on Sunday, and later decides to become Catholic, it is reasonable to believe that he would not be re-baptized. The Church would recognize what is to happen on Sunday as a real baptism, provided those to be baptized haven’t been baptized already. That makes this different than a Catholic marrying in a different church without a dispensation, for instance, or someone previously marrying when the Church would deem their previous marriage as still valid.

Talk to your pastor about it. If you feel unsure about attending the baptism itself, you can still attend the family gathering afterward, and I’d encourage you to do so.
 
What a difficult choice you must make and I have no idea what I would do if I was in this situation. Pray for guidance and do what you feel God is calling you to do. I will pray for you.
 
I have participated in “ecumenical” church services.

The protestants did not want to be there … and the Catholics were “blackjacked” by their Catholic priest because he was under orders to conduct the “ecumenical” service.

What an unhappy mess … which is the best you could say about it.

Later, the priest thanked us profusely because he had to do it and needed at least a few people to show up.

[Everyone was really unhappy about it.]

[The Jewish and Muslim invitees not only refused to consider it … extremely hostile … , but it was only because they knew me that they didn’t attack me verbally or worse. The Muslim folks gave me a free copy of the Koran, which was cool and served well as a desk reference.]

I will never do that again, and I openly discourage anyone else from participating in such things.

In my humble opinion, ME TALKING … ecumenical services only demonstrate a “defensive wishy-washy watered-down Catholicism”.

There is another thread on here in which a Catholic pastor did such a great job reinstituting traditional Catholic services, that his parish flowered.

I will put a link here.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=10624520#post10624520

xxx

OP:

Restoring the Sacred

The story of a parish in decline who decided to embrace the traditions (small t) of the Faith, in particular of the liturgy and the results which were obtained.

ncregister.com/blog/dan-burke/not-boring/

Quote:
Our goal isn’t to be like everyone else. Not only would that be boring, but it’s watering down something so essential, so critical, so much a part of who we are.
Boring is the real reason people leave the Catholic Church. Want proof? Look at an example of just the opposite being put into play in Omaha, Nebraska. When you’re NOT boring — but instead celebrate Catholic traditions out loud —the glory, the mystery and the beauty naturally draw people to them.

How could they not?

This pastor took the sacred and made it the core part of his parish. He wasn’t afraid to take hold of the traditions that are time-tested.

And the response of this parish (which had spent 40 years in decline) to the sacred, the beautiful, the mystery of our faith, is unusual, even surprising.

Maybe that’s not because we’ve lost our taste for awe and wonder, but simply because we’ve settled for less. The sacred mystery of our faith is not old, not out of touch, not boring. May God lead more parishes to explore this beauty to the fullest — and may we see our churches filled to capacity every Sunday, in worship of our Risen Lord who inspires it all.
Additional information and a larger HD trailer can be found here: heavenmeetsearth.tv/

By their fruits, indeed.
 
angird said:
We got an invite from my mother in law to attend her and her husbands baptism this comming sunday. They are being baptized in a Mega non denominational church. MY mother in law has already been baptized so this will be number 2 for her ,im not sure about her husband. I want to go to support them ( even thought they didnt come to our daughters birthday party but that is beside the point) but i feel torn in supporting them because i feel that they are entering a church that doesn’t have the fulness that they would receive in the catholic faith. My husband has no qualms as he is agnostic. On the other side i see this as an oppurtunity to talk to them about faith matters, but i dont want to overstep or being offensive or make them feel aliented. Any advice is helpful and appreacited !
Thanks
Click to expand...
I understand, and you are right, that they are joining a church that is lacking since all other church besides the Catholic church are. However, unless it is Morman or Jehova’s witness, they will have a valid baptism. Since the Mother has already been baptised this is actually pointless whether she realizes it or not. That having been said I personally feel that if your husband wants to go you should go with him. But absolutely use this as an opportunity to discuss your faith. But to support your husband, not necessarily your in-laws, and the sake of family unity GO. Pick your battles, this ones not worth the grief.
 
I vote for going, assuming your husband wants to. These are his parents, and therefore the decision is primarily his.

If it is your FIL’s first baptism, and they baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, it is a valid baptism, and there is no reason for you not to attend for his sake, since a valid baptism is always something to celebrate!

Your MIL’s “re-baptism” is pointless, but that doesn’t have to stop you from attending your FIL’s valid baptism (unless her first baptism was as a Catholic and she is leaving the Church). It is true that they will not be entering into the fullness of the faith, but for many people, entry into a Protestant church is just one step on a road that ultimately leads them to Catholicism. 🙂
 
angird said:
We got an invite from my mother in law to attend her and her husbands baptism this comming sunday. They are being baptized in a Mega non denominational church. MY mother in law has already been baptized so this will be number 2 for her ,im not sure about her husband. I want to go to support them ( even thought they didnt come to our daughters birthday party but that is beside the point) but i feel torn in supporting them because i feel that they are entering a church that doesnt have the fulness that they would receive in the catholic faith. My husband has no qualms as he is agnostic. On the other side i see this as an oppurtunity to talk to them about faith matters, but i dont want to overstep or being offensive or make them feel aliented. Any advice is helpful and appreacited !
Thanks
Click to expand...
I would go. Sometimes being there for someone and supporting them doesn’t mean you would do the same or you agree with the decision its just saying I support you in doing what you feel is best for you as your family member.
 
By all means, do not attend, especially if they’re Catholic! That would be giving tacit approval to something that is wrong. There is but one Baptism. No one can be baptized “again.”
 
I say don’t go. Ecumenism is a failed project. Christ calls us to evangelization, not ecumenism. It can be argued one can’t happen without the other. But it “can”. By attending, even if you attempt to use it as a means for promoting Christ’s Truth to them, it will be a wasted effort. Your presence will only serve to support the mega “church” and their erroneous belief system. If you truly want to help them, then pray for them. Try and find a time or place to speak with them where you are on equal footing. They will not attend Mass to speak with you about your faith, so do not walk into satan’s playground to speak to them about theirs. Just a personal opinion. I am not an authority figure on anything.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
I have participated in “ecumenical” church services.

The protestants did not want to be there … and the Catholics were “blackjacked” by their Catholic priest because he was under orders to conduct the “ecumenical” service.

What an unhappy mess … which is the best you could say about it.

Later, the priest thanked us profusely because he had to do it and needed at least a few people to show up.

[Everyone was really unhappy about it.]

[The Jewish and Muslim invitees not only refused to consider it … extremely hostile … , but it was only because they knew me that they didn’t attack me verbally or worse. The Muslim folks gave me a free copy of the Koran, which was cool and served well as a desk reference.]

I will never do that again, and I openly discourage anyone else from participating in such things.

In my humble opinion, ME TALKING … ecumenical services only demonstrate a “defensive wishy-washy watered-down Catholicism”.

There is another thread on here in which a Catholic pastor did such a great job reinstituting traditional Catholic services, that his parish flowered.

I will put a link here.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=10624520#post10624520

xxx

OP:

Restoring the Sacred

The story of a parish in decline who decided to embrace the traditions (small t) of the Faith, in particular of the liturgy and the results which were obtained.

ncregister.com/blog/dan-burke/not-boring/

Quote:
Our goal isn’t to be like everyone else. Not only would that be boring, but it’s watering down something so essential, so critical, so much a part of who we are.
Boring is the real reason people leave the Catholic Church. Want proof? Look at an example of just the opposite being put into play in Omaha, Nebraska. When you’re NOT boring — but instead celebrate Catholic traditions out loud —the glory, the mystery and the beauty naturally draw people to them.

How could they not?

This pastor took the sacred and made it the core part of his parish. He wasn’t afraid to take hold of the traditions that are time-tested.

And the response of this parish (which had spent 40 years in decline) to the sacred, the beautiful, the mystery of our faith, is unusual, even surprising.

Maybe that’s not because we’ve lost our taste for awe and wonder, but simply because we’ve settled for less. The sacred mystery of our faith is not old, not out of touch, not boring. May God lead more parishes to explore this beauty to the fullest — and may we see our churches filled to capacity every Sunday, in worship of our Risen Lord who inspires it all.
Additional information and a larger HD trailer can be found here: heavenmeetsearth.tv/

By their fruits, indeed.
Click to expand...
Who said anything about attending an ecumenical service? The question is whether or not a Catholic can, in good conscience, attend a Christian baptism in a non-Catholic church, particularly if the Catholic believes that one of those to be baptized may already be validly baptized. I would not expect to see a priest anywhere near the place.

Now, the baptisms done at non-denominational churches, whether “mega” or “mini” or something in-between, are typically valid baptisms as far as the Catholic Church is concerned. Get baptized there, and the Church will not re-baptized you unless there is some doubt about what form was used, or something like that. Even if the MIL is already validly baptized, the OP has no information that the FIL has been baptized at all. This is not like attending a wedding that the Church would consider invalid, then. This is not a situation where the OP is taking her own family member to such a baptism; the family member is doing it of her own volition and the Catholic has no say in the matter.

As someone already pointed out, if these family members were being “re-baptized” because they intend to defect from the Catholic Church, that would be something else again. They could hardly expect a fellow Catholic still in the Church to want to go witness that, and it could be explained to them in just that way. If, OTOH, this is their first foray into Christianity, if they are going from no communion at all with the Body of Christ to an imperfect but very real union by way of a valid baptism outside the Church, then a Catholic could go witness the event. It is a step in the right direction, if nothing else, and a major step at that.
 
How nice they invited you and wanted you to share in their happy moment. I would go.
Several non Catholics came to LO’s baptism. I considered it wonderful they came even though it wasn’t their thing at all. It was great to have them there.
 
Neither of them are catholic I believe my MIL was baptized in a Protestant church, my husband doesn’t care if I go or not but I think iv decided to go went to the local catholic store and got them cards and crucifix necklaces an hope to invite them to my confirmation and use this to evangelize . Thanks !
 
SaintFrancis333 said:
I say don’t go. Ecumenism is a failed project. Christ calls us to evangelization, not ecumenism. It can be argued one can’t happen without the other. But it “can”. By attending, even if you attempt to use it as a means for promoting Christ’s Truth to them, it will be a wasted effort. Your presence will only serve to support the mega “church” and their erroneous belief system. If you truly want to help them, then pray for them. Try and find a time or place to speak with them where you are on equal footing. They will not attend Mass to speak with you about your faith, so do not walk into satan’s playground to speak to them about theirs. Just a personal opinion. I am not an authority figure on anything.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately things are not like they were 50 years ago were if you were Catholic your entire family was Catholic and you married into other Catholic families. And Vice-versa for Protestants. Now we have mixed families. Some protestant and some Catholic. Usually because someone who’s family is Protestant converts (like me), or a Catholic marries a Protestant (like me). Taking a hardline stance against Protestantism in these situations is not practical and leads to hard feelings. And usually the one who takes the hard stance loses. For instance. My Mother-in-law refused to go to my Twin’s first communion. (she was very anti-Catholic then even telling my children they would go to hell if they didn’t get re-baptised. She didn’t believe in infant baptism) Now that the twins are older they see her stance as unreasonable and both wish to staying Catholic.

As well we are allowed to “visit” other churches. We just can not participate.
 
Steveabrous said:
For instance, my Mother-in-law refused to go to my Twin’s first communion. (she was very anti-Catholic then even telling my children they would go to hell if they didn’t get re-baptised. She didn’t believe in infant baptism) Now that the twins are older they see her stance as unreasonable and both wish to staying Catholic.
Click to expand...
It is particularly hard to explain to a child why a close relative is avoiding their special day, so it is best if the adults are as tolerant as they can manage to be. Having said that, it is also best to accommodate those in the family with different beliefs, and to allow all to quietly abstain from ceremonies that would violate their consciences, without imposing repercussions through cooled affections. We know, after all, that one day the tables could be turned, and probably will be. In the case of abstaining from a child’s celebration, it is better to say, “they couldn’t make it”, and to explain when the child is older that this meant the adults agreed the abstaining family member had a valid reason to stay home rather than violate their conscience, in return for having the grace not to make a family scene about it while the child was too young to understand.
 
EasterJoy said:
In the case of abstaining from a child’s celebration, it is better to say, “they couldn’t make it”, and to explain when the child is older that this meant the adults agreed the abstaining family member had a valid reason to stay home rather than violate their conscience, in return for having the grace not to make a family scene about it while the child was too young to understand.
Click to expand...
For the record that is what we said. When they asked her why she wasn’t there, she is the one who went into an anti-catholic rant with them. Forcing me to counter her claims.
 
Family is family. I’d go. Went to at least one of my sister’s kids dedications (they didn’t have infant baptism at her church). They didn’t come to our kids, but considering they were a couple thousand miles away, I couldn’t fault them!

At the mega-church services I’ve been to, the singing has been great. The lengthy prayers with everyone (except me & husband) waving their hands in the air - not so great. 😉
 
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