Say for instance that someone accepts Christ. Should we offer to get them baptised asap or should they enter RCIA and be baptised at Easter. How would this differ for people who a. accept the Catholic Church and b. those who don’t accept the Catholic Church.
I have a friend who was baptized Catholic as an infant and is now Protestant or at least no longer considers herself Catholic. She doesn’t consider herself baptised because she has a different understanding of baptism as symbolic and as a statement of faith. How do I speak the truth about the Catholic understanding of baptism in a way that is sensitive? How should I talk to her about this?
I know someone who recently came to Christ and he’s very new to Christianity and is full of basic questions. I was praying with him and some of my friends last night who are evangelical protestant and he was asked if he’s like to be baptized sometime. He asked what baptism meant and they answered more along the lines that it is a statement of faith and symbolic of your sins being washed away. How to I speak to him the truth that baptism actually does wash away your sin without being devisive or causing him additional confusion? I guess a question I have is that I believe he is in a state of grace right now so I’m confused as to how to say to him you are born again in baptism when it seems that he’s already in a state of salvation?
Say for instance that someone accepts Christ. Should we offer to get them baptised asap or should they enter RCIA and be baptised at Easter. How would this differ for people who a. accept the Catholic Church and b. those who don’t accept the Catholic Church.
A person not in danger of death, must have the pastors permission to be Baptized in the Catholic Church. Those who do not accept the Catholic Church cannot be Baptized in the Catholic Church.
I have a friend who was baptized Catholic as an infant and is now Protestant or at least no longer considers herself Catholic. She doesn’t consider herself baptised because she has a different understanding of baptism as symbolic and as a statement of faith. How do I speak the truth about the Catholic understanding of baptism in a way that is sensitive? How should I talk to her about this?
There is a big difference between being no longer Catholic (formally let the Catholic Church) and someone who simply no longer considers themselves Catholic. If she was Baptized in a Catholic Church she is Baptized, period.
I know someone who recently came to Christ and he’s very new to Christianity and is full of basic questions. I was praying with him and some of my friends last night who are evangelical protestant and he was asked if he’s like to be baptized sometime. He asked what baptism meant and they answered more along the lines that it is a statement of faith and symbolic of your sins being washed away. How to I speak to him the truth that baptism actually does wash away your sin without being devisive or causing him additional confusion? I guess a question I have is that I believe he is in a state of grace right now so I’m confused as to how to say to him you are born again in baptism when it seems that he’s already in a state of salvation?
What answer did you give?
He could not possibly be in a State of Grace if he has not been Baptized.
Say for instance that someone accepts Christ. Should we offer to get them baptised asap or should they enter RCIA and be baptised at Easter. How would this differ for people who a. accept the Catholic Church and b. those who don’t accept the Catholic Church.
Choosing to be baptized is serious business. The USCCB recommends in its 1988 manual on RCIA that “the period of catechumenate … should extend for at least one year of formation, instruction, and probation,” ordinarily beginning before Lent in one year and extending through Easter the next year. (See the USCCB’s National Statues for the Catechumenate, paragraph 6.)
I’m pretty sure that in the Rite of Baptism for adults, those seeking Baptism are specifically asked if they accept all that the Catholic Church teaches, so it would seem the answer to your second question is that only (a) is acceptable if you want to be baptized as a Catholic.
Remember that from the standpoint of justification, God can and does save catechumens who are unbaptized but nonetheless explicitly desire Baptism (see, for example, the Council of Trent, sess. 6, chap. 4). So it’s not as though the Church is out to condemn people by making them wait to be baptized.
Re. #3, just let him know that protestants and Catholics have different ideas about baptism. Tell him to read the article below to find what the Catholic Church believes, and then pray for him and ask the Holy Spirit to guide your friend to the truth.
If he is still alive and not Baptized he is separated from God’s Sanctifying Grace by Original SIn. You didn’t mention that he had died? If so then Baptism of Desire or Baptism of Blood could apply.
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