Questions about Sacrament notations on Baptismal Certificates

[babochka]

My personal experience is that parish record keeping is very spotty. My husband was confirmed in the same parish in which he was baptized, but when we got his certificate for our wedding, it listed “No information”. The parish updated their register when I came in person and asked them to check Confirmations. Two of my children were baptized in my husband’s Latin Rite parish and received Confirmation a couple of years later in my Byzantine parish. I personally mailed the notification to the parish of baptism, but the record was not updated until several years later when I brought in the proof of confirmation and she updated it in my presence. My husband’s certificate still hasn’t been updated with our marriage (it has been 16 years). I have requested a number of baptismal certificates for genealogical purposes, and these have generally been up-to-date.

 

[Gorgias]

Sigh.
You just HAVE to correct everyone.

In this case, though, I think she’s correct.

Actually, our trainer said we absolutely could use those printed certificates if we put the seal on them.

Right – if they’re members of your parish, and you’re printing out a sacramental certificate, you can absolutely use one of their canned reports. (IIRC, you can do the same thing in PDS.) However, when doing so, one should verify the information that’s actually in the register, just to confirm that it wasn’t entered incorrectly into the system.

However, I took what 1ke wrote as pointing out that you can’t print out a certificate for someone who was baptized in the parish across town. (For instance, if a couple comes to you, wanting to be married, and you need their baptismal extract with notations, you might be able to look up their record and say, “ok… I’ll contact St Agatha parish for your documentation”, but you wouldn’t be able to pull up their info and print out a St Agatha extract for your pre-marital file. (At least, that’s how I took it…)

There are parishes in every state of the union on that database.

There are, but you’re not saying that you can access their data, are you?

My understanding is that they offer both parish and diocese products. If your diocese buys their offering, then you might have the ability to look up information for parishes in your diocese. However, even if my diocese bought their offering, you wouldn’t be able to look up my baptismal information. Right?

 

[FrDavid96]

Another question:

I have the dates of when these various sacraments were administered to my children. If the baptismal certificate is indeed mainly meant as a keepsake, can I then fill in the information where indicated on the back of the baptismal certificate (there are indeed spaces to list First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and Ordination), or does it have to filled in by a parish representative?

Thanks again.

Unfortunately, you’re confusing 2 different things.

1. The actual Sacramental records; those are kept in handwritten bound books, and maintained at the place of baptism.
2. A baptismal certificate; which is a written record of the information in that Sacramental record at the time the certificate was issued.

That last part is critical. A Baptismal certificate is not a record that is updated from time to time. It provides only information on the actual date that it was signed. If/when an update is necessary, a new certificate is always issued.

These certificates should not be altered by anyone once they’re issued–doing so is actually a crime under canon law (c. 1391)

If I were to receive a baptismal certificate dated in 2010 that says someone received First Communion in 2012, that would raise a red flag and immediately alert me that someone had altered the certificate. That would bring about other issues of ever trusting that person again.

There actually should not be blank spaces on the back of any Baptismal certificate. If there is no record of a particular sacrament, then the issuer is obligated to indicate that by writing “no notations” (or words to that effect) in the space for those sacraments.

 

[FrDavid96]

Just wondering - if a couple gets married at a parish that neither of them are members of and they are just using the church building for the wedding and bringing their own priest, is the marriage still registered at that parish or at their own parish(es)?

The marriage itself is recorded in the place where the ceremony occurred; in the Marriage book, or the Marriage section if it’s a “combined” register.

Also, notations are made in the original baptismal records of both the bride and groom. That’s always the place of baptism, which might or might not be the current parish of either one.