Not baptized afterall...what to do?

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Annaleigh

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To make a long story short… I was adopted at two years old and was told that I had been baptized before my adoption. I was told by my biological mother, who I met when I was a teen and have not heard from or been able to find since. I had no reason to question this until a few years ago when I was doing some family research and tried to find my baptismal records with no joy…I cannot stop thinking about it. I really believe that I was not baptized after all. I have prayed and prayed and the doubts are just getting stronger and stronger. I am believing that I need to be baptized. I live and love my Catholic faith and want to move forward.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Blessings,
Anna
 
I would think it best to make an appointment with your priest and explain the situation to him. Then follow his advise.
God Bless
 
Annaleigh said:
To make a long story short… I was adopted at two years old and was told that I had been baptized before my adoption. I was told by my biological mother, who I met when I was a teen and have not heard from or been able to find since. I had no reason to question this until a few years ago when I was doing some family research and tried to find my baptismal records with no joy…I cannot stop thinking about it. I really believe that I was not baptized after all. I have prayed and prayed and the doubts are just getting stronger and stronger. I am believing that I need to be baptized. I live and love my Catholic faith and want to move forward.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Blessings,
Anna
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The worst that can happen is you receive a “conditional baptism.” If you are conditionally baptised and did not need to be, then your head gets wet but no harm is done. If you did, in fact, need to be baptized, then the sacramental grace that flows from the baptism would be imparted to you.

I would not discount anything you’ve done in the past, as it would be covered by “baptism of desire”

I concur with the previous posters, make an appointment to speak with your pastor.
 
Like the others said, conditional baptism covers this pretty well, but the lack of records doesn’t even necessarily mean you weren’t baptized. It just means the records couldn’t be found. Since there was no reason for anyone to lie to you about it, it may be the case that the records themselves have simply been misplaced. Peoples records have been lost before after-all, in fact I know of people who have been baptized and when they went to get their records in order to be married in another parish found that they were missing.
 
Thank you all…amazing how opening a little here really helps. I tend to be a bit private. I should of mentioned, (although I wanted to keep it short), that I did find that my original birth certificate was not issued until I was adopted either…the reason was that I was born in Italy and brought into the states for the adoption. So, records are iffy. Also, my bio-cousins that still live in Italy could not confirm anything. I even visited the town where I was born in Italy and searched. Anyway, I am also a traveler in my work and have the past twenty years. I had just taken a job in a new town when the doubts and constant thoughts of whether or not I had been baptized started to really take a toll. I have been a little uncomfortable going to see the priest here. Oh, and something else that may have triggered this is that I have been invited to volunteer overseas this year and want to make sure I have, well, everything in order… I will see the parish priest though, now that your answers have shown a light on the situation. I suppose I should of thought of a conditional baptism at some point.
Blessings ,
Anna
 
No doubt about it make an appointment with your priest and see about conditional baptism
 
No doubt about it make an appointment with you priest and see about conditional baptism.
 
Annaleigh said:
Thank you all…amazing how opening a little here really helps. I tend to be a bit private. I should of mentioned, (although I wanted to keep it short), that I did find that my original birth certificate was not issued until I was adopted either…the reason was that I was born in Italy and brought into the states for the adoption. So, records are iffy. Also, my bio-cousins that still live in Italy could not confirm anything. I even visited the town where I was born in Italy and searched. Anyway, I am also a traveler in my work and have the past twenty years. I had just taken a job in a new town when the doubts and constant thoughts of whether or not I had been baptized started to really take a toll. I have been a little uncomfortable going to see the priest here. Oh, and something else that may have triggered this is that I have been invited to volunteer overseas this year and want to make sure I have, well, everything in order… I will see the parish priest though, now that your answers have shown a light on the situation. I suppose I should of thought of a conditional baptism at some point.
Blessings ,
Anna
Click to expand...
If you know the first and last name of your biological mother, your date of birth, your town of birth you should easily find the parish where you were baptized. You can PM me if you want help in finding the possible parish. I do not need to know any name just the possible locations where you could have been baptized. An approximate date would help (e.g. the 50’s, or the 60’s etc) in order to eliminate recent parishes.
 
A conditional baptism need not be a large, public affair. Often, only a couple of witnesses and a godparent/sponsor need be present.
 
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