Must adult Catholics be baptized at Easter?

[RGS]

My wife was baptized almost two years ago. While she was going through RCIA, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was baptized at Christmas time. Why didn’t he have to wait until the Easter Vigil to be baptized like all other new Catholics?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

There is no requirement that adult Catholics “must” be baptized on the Easter Vigil. Most parishes simply arrange it that way, both because it is fitting for baptisms to take place at the Easter Vigil and as a matter of convenience. However, if a pastor judges that a particular baptismal candidate is ready for baptism and there is reason or need to hold the baptism at some other time, it is perfectly possible for him to schedule the baptism for another date.