Is this baptism valid?

[SeekerCV]

My wife and I will soon begin preparation for first communion and confirmation. My stepson (her son) will begin the same preparation (he is 11 years old). My wife just told the entirety of the situation surrounding his baptism. I already knew some of this, but some of the information was news to me:

She and his father were unmarried.

She is ALMOST certain that she and her boyfriend did not lie about being married, but she’s not 100% certain.

They DID lie to the Church by affirming that the Godparents were Catholic. Both Godparents were Protestant (although the Godfather was baptized Catholic as an infant).

Question(s): Is my stepson’s baptism valid? Do we need to reveal these facts the the parish we will soon be received into? Is there a possibility he may need to be re-baptized?

My wife was not Catholic at the time, althought she, like me, was baptized Catholic as an infant. She agreed to have her son baptized to appease her boyfriend’s family.

Help!

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Chris

 

[Tiocfaidharla]

I had concerns about the validity of my son’s baptism, and a (different) priest told me that it didn’t matter what the circumstances were. Once the Sacrament was received, it was “official” and permanent–that there was no need to perform a “new” baptism, and if fact, to do so would be a sin against faith, as we are to believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins…etc.

I have no documentation to offer though.

 

[masterjedi747]

All that baptism needs for sacramental validity is proper form and proper matter.

If clean water was used, then you had proper matter. And if the following words were pronounced: “I baptize you in the name if the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”…then you had proper form.

That’s all that’s needed for the sacrament of baptism. It’s very very simple.
Whatever else happens, however unfortunate it might be, doesn’t affect sacramental validity.

 

[Tiocfaidharla]

Sorry…don’t mean to hijack, but what do you mean by clean water? I only ask because of this strange practice of using a sponge in the fonts (which looks rather dirty to me), and seeing the remnants of the Holy Water in the large font after Mass, when our parish holds Mass in our PAC. It’s just GROSS! With who-knows-what floating about in it.

 

[1ke]

Your stepson was baptized in the Catholic Church, so you can be assured that valid form and matter were used. Yes, your step son is validly baptized.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Tiocfaidharla:

Sorry…don’t mean to hijack, but what do you mean by clean water? I only ask because of this strange practice of using a sponge in the fonts (which looks rather dirty to me), and seeing the remnants of the Holy Water in the large font after Mass, when our parish holds Mass in our PAC. It’s just GROSS! With who-knows-what floating about in it.

Clean in the sense that it can be called water as opposed to say, toxic sludge that just happens to have water in it.

Yes. The son was validly baptised. The surrounding adults may have much to answer for, but the son IS baptised.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Regarding the conditions necessary for valid baptism, 4 things are necessary:

1. Valid matter (i.e., water).
2. Valid form. The minister of the sacrament must pour water on the person being baptised, while audibly pronouncing the Trinitarian formula “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Immersion is valid, too. When pouring, it is strongly desired to pour the water on the forehead, but is not strictly necessary. There can be emergency situations when that is not possible.
3. The intention to do whatever it is that the Church does when it baptises.
4. In the case of an adult or a child who has attained the use of reason, the person being baptised must express faith in the Trinity. He doesn’t have to understand it (who can?), but must believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The third one is most relevant when a non-Christian baptises someone.

Yes, folks, ANYONE, even non-Christians, can validly baptise, especially in a case of emergency, if they follow the right procedure and have the intention of doing whatever it is that the Church does when it baptises. They don’t have to believe in it themselves, much less understand it. Even those who are hostile to the Christian faith could validly baptise, presuming they are willing to overcome their hostility to do it.

While it is an emergency situation that makes it licit for anyone to baptise, it would still be valid if it were done properly by a non-Christian without an emergency.

Ain’t the Lord’s abundant generosity great?!

 

[masterjedi747]

Tiocfaidharla:

Sorry…don’t mean to hijack, but what do you mean by clean water?

The proper matter for baptism is water. You can’t use anything else.
So the liquid being used will fall into one if the three following categories:

1. Valid: Water (H20)…the nearly (if not exactly) drinkable kind.
2. Questionably Valid: Water (H20) that also contains tiny individual particles of another substance floating around with it. Examples include water with salt, chlorine, fruit particles, coffee grains, dirt, or algae…things that could be (more or less) separated from the water.
3. Clearly Invalid: Is not actually water. Examples include Coca-Cola, milk, tears, blood, etc…when the molecular structure is not H20, but is something else substanially different.

The easiest, of course, is to simply use water. Maybe it’s not the cleanest water ever known to mankind…but then again the Jordan River wasn’t too pleasant either, as I understand it.