New Names on Baptism Certificate?

[3HILLS]

Can our adopted daughter’s Baptism Certificate (previosly Baptized Catholic) be changed to have only her new name and our name as her parents?

We have been given conflicting information.

The small Catholic church where she was Baptized has told us that they can not remove the original names - but that they will make a “note” of the name changes.

I have to say - that sounds rediculous. I have been Catholic all of my life, as has my husband. We were married in the Catholic Church and can’t have our adopted daughters new name or my husbands name on the Baptism Certificate seems cruel. She is 7 years old and about to make her First Holy Communion - but she is terribly upset about this news.

Can someone please help us out. We have 3 weeks until her First Confession.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brain]

Ultimately, its a historical and official document. I know it must be hard on an emotional level but the records need to be kept consistent. Like you cant change the witnesses to your wedding after the fact becuase you are no longer friends with them, becuase they were the ones that in fact witnessed. the name on that page is the name she was christined as and the parents names are the ones who submitted her.

The note really is the best way to go, keeps the records smoother if ever she needed them for some reason.
You could confirm her under her new name i think (so long as the Church has record that name a and name b are the same person)

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

3HILLS:

Can our adopted daughter’s Baptism Certificate (previosly Baptized Catholic) be changed to have only her new name and our name as her parents?

We have been given conflicting information.

The small Catholic church where she was Baptized has told us that they can not remove the original names - but that they will make a “note” of the name changes.

I have to say - that sounds rediculous. I have been Catholic all of my life, as has my husband. We were married in the Catholic Church and can’t have our adopted daughters new name or my husbands name on the Baptism Certificate seems cruel. She is 7 years old and about to make her First Holy Communion - but she is terribly upset about this news.

Can someone please help us out. We have 3 weeks until her First Confession.

Thanks in advance.

The Baptism record is an official Church document, recording an event that took place. Unless you can go back in time and be there for the Baptism, you can’t change history! You can however have a note entered indicating a change to the name that took place later in time. To issue a Baptism certificate with different names then what they were at the time of the Baptism would be falsifying a official document.

 

[SMHW]

3HILLS:

Can our adopted daughter’s Baptism Certificate (previosly Baptized Catholic) be changed to have only her new name and our name as her parents?

We have been given conflicting information.

The small Catholic church where she was Baptized has told us that they can not remove the original names - but that they will make a “note” of the name changes.

I have to say - that sounds rediculous. I have been Catholic all of my life, as has my husband. We were married in the Catholic Church and can’t have our adopted daughters new name or my husbands name on the Baptism Certificate seems cruel. She is 7 years old and about to make her First Holy Communion - but she is terribly upset about this news.

Can someone please help us out. We have 3 weeks until her First Confession.

Thanks in advance.

May I ask why the desire for the new certificate? I’m not trying to be flip here but I am just trying to sort out the problems.

Do you want to remove the record of the past because of some unpleasantness? Are you thinking this is like a birth certificate where they re-issue it with the new name at the time of an adoption? Do you or your daughter feel like she is not a part of your family because of this? Is your current parish wanting to record her sacraments with the birth information instead of the current legal information? Do you just want a nice piece of paper?

It may be possible that the baptismal parish could issue a new piece of paper with the new infomation but it would not be an “official” baptismal certificate. But that’s kind of a pastoral action on the part of the parish. I don’t know if they would. I seem to recall that my parish has done that on occasion.

 

[cameron_lansing]

Unless I misread your situation, it appears to be addressed in the complementary norms to the Code of Canon Law for the US Episcopal Conference at usccb.org/norms/877-3.htm

“For children baptized before their adoption is finalized, the following notations shall be added to the baptismal register, but only after the adoption has been finalized and with due regard for the civil law of the jurisdiction:

     1. parentheses shall be placed around the names of the natural parents;
     2. the name(s) of the adoptive parent(s) shall then be added;
     3. the child's former surname shall also be parenthesized and the new surname added; and
     4. a notation shall be made that the child was legally adopted.

“Baptismal certificates issued by the parish for these individuals shall give only the name(s) of the adoptive parent(s), the child’s new legal surname, the date and place of baptism, and the name of the minister who conferred the sacrament. The name(s) of the sponsor(s) shall not be given, and no mention of the fact of adoption shall be made on the baptismal certificate.

“For future ease in reference, and to afford what may often be the only possibility of reference after the adoption has been finalized, a baptismal entry for the adopted child can be made in the baptismal register of the adoptive parents’ parish, citing the date and location of the original baptismal record, and listing only the name of the adoptive parents, and the date and place of birth.”

 

[asquared]

3HILLS:

Can our adopted daughter’s Baptism Certificate (previosly Baptized Catholic) be changed to have only her new name and our name as her parents?

We .

there is a canonical provision for this, see your pastor (not the secretary, who may not know how to proceed). You need a new birth certificate from the state/county first, because the baptismal certificate starts there. Then the record in the parish where she was baptized is annotated to show the new parents, and new name, and copies of the relevant legal documents affixed to the permanent record, and a new baptismal certificate is given to you. The record is also annotated so that in the future only the “new” information will be given out in the future. The original record can never be changed, but it can be annotated and sealed, as I describe, and you can get a new certificate with the current info.