My oldest daughter was baptized when she was 7

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GerardAubyn

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I had both of my daughters baptized when they were six and seven. At the same time! It was a very happy day.

Before their baptism, when I met with Father at the glebe house, I brought up the fact that my daughters are older and if a baptismal ceremony that is usually done with infants would still be okay. He gave me reassurance, saying something along the lines of “The first Christians were baptized as adults.”

But from what I’ve read, a lot of dioceses put children 7 and older in the RCIA program. Their baptismal certificates have their dates of birth on them. My concern is this: Is the baptism still valid? Could this have been an oversight by the parish office that scheduled the baptism date and issued the certificates?
 
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With all due respect –
Father knew all about their ages
You’ve read (place unspecified) that “a lot” of dioceses (again, unspecifed which ones) do it differently.

I don’t see any reason here to doubt Father. Did I miss something?
 
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Nothing you’ve described affects the validity of baptism. Assuming the priest used water and the proper form, none of the rest of that bears on validity. Even if the formation process wasn’t right, it doesn’t matter.

-Fr ACEGC
 
Focus on what your diocese does, not others. I don’t see a problem with the baptism as you’ve described it.
 
Most of what I’ve read online, if I search for something along the lines of “baptizing older children” I get results about the RCIA program culminating during Easter season, rather than the usual way in which infants are baptized.
 
For goodness sake - stop trying to find problems.

TALK with your priest and then accept his answer and ask no further

You are not doing yourself any good and all this unnecessary anxiety on your part will be rubbing off on your children.

Again TALK with your priest and then accept his answer and ask no further
 
My husband was baptized at 23, following RCIA, and his Baptism was as valid as mine as at the age of 17 days.

Different parishes have different programs. My mother has taught Baptism classes for young children as our parish was rural and this only came up a couple of times. She taught them at our home. Larger parishes may have a formal program such as RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation Adapted for Children).
 
GerardAubyn said:
Is the baptism still valid?
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Yes. Please don’t worry. The baptism was valid.
GerardAubyn said:
Could this have been an oversight by the parish office that scheduled the baptism date and issued the certificates?
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The parish office doesn’t baptize. Your priest does. Please trust that he knows what he is doing.

Age 7 is not magical, children reach the age of reason around 7. If he baptized your 7 year old and did not confirm or commune her, it’s TOTALLY fine.
 
GerardAubyn said:
Most of what I’ve read online, if I search for something along the lines of “baptizing older children” I get results about the RCIA program culminating during Easter season, rather than the usual way in which infants are baptized.
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Yes, once a child reaches the age of reason (which is around 7-8) the church considers them to no longer be infants. And baptism is usually preceded by catechesis and all three sacraments of initiation are done together.

HOWEVER, priests make their own judgments in this matter and if your priest decided to do baptism and then formation and the other sacraments later— that is (a) totally his call
And (b) completely valid.

Please talk to your pastor about your concerns. Remember, reading random threads on here may not give the whole story, the correct answer, or
an answer applicable to YOUR situation. On your other thread, one poster has given multiple posts of wrong information.

Trust your priest. Make an appointment and discuss your concerns regarding your 9 year old’s Sacraments.
 
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There is no reason to question the validity of your daughter’s baptism.

If a child is old enough to understand things many places may put them through RCIA so they learn the faith. However, not doing this has no impact of validlity.

I would suggest you trust the priest to do things correctly and stop searching the Internet. If you do not know the answer by what criteria do you judge answers on the Internet? How do you know you are being given the correct facts?
 
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