Unique Problem - Baptism Certificate wrong

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Ivorskiver

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So I’m faced with a bit of a problem and I’m hoping to find a solution.

I need to obtain my mother’s baptism certificate for a passport application because she doesn’t have a birth certificate because she was never registered (home birth).

She was born in Bombay, India and she was Baptised at the St. Blaise Catholic Church.

She went to school to the same Church/School and was Married there as well.

So this is the problem. Her name and date of birth are wrong on the Baptism Certificate.
However, on all other documents (Marriage, Passport and School Leaving certificate her name and date of birth are correct.)

Is there a way she can get this corrected on her Baptism certificate? If so, how. I’m guessing that there should be a way to correct this - even if just by producing the marriage certificate and passport. Am I right in assuming this?

Since I live in Australia and my mother is going to travel to India in a few weeks to sort this out I need to let her know how she can do this.

I am quite desperate to get this sorted so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
never heard of the Baptism certificate being needed for a passport…only the birth certificate. …

Is the church where she was baptized still there?

edit: oh…she doesn’t have a birth certificate because of home birth. Hmmm, this is an unusual situation…
 
Yes the church does exist still and they still have her records - she got a copy of her baptism certificate from their office last year but it had the incorrect details.
 
Yes, an error in a baptismal record can be corrected. HOWEVER, legal source documents must be produced as evidence of the error and a copy of these documents must be retained by the parish. The parish can make a correcting notation in their sacramental records.

I would suggest your mother contact a lawyer in India to determine how to have a state issued birth certificate created to take care of her issue once and for all.

If she already has a passport, it is unclear how she obtained it in the first place and why she would need a baptismal certificate to renew it.

Bottom line, her baptismal records cannot be changed without a legal document.
 
My baptismal record is wrong, and I contacted the Church where it occurred.

I was told that it is what it is, and the Church records cannot be changed, but a “notation” can be made.

My baptismal record has my name wrong, my mothers name wrong, and both of my Godparents names wrong.

I think the date of the baptism is right though. 😃
 
1ke said:
Yes, an error in a baptismal record can be corrected. HOWEVER, legal source documents must be produced as evidence of the error and a copy of these documents must be retained by the parish. The parish can make a correcting notation in their sacramental records.

I would suggest your mother contact a lawyer in India to determine how to have a state issued birth certificate created to take care of her issue once and for all.

If she already has a passport, it is unclear how she obtained it in the first place and why she would need a baptismal certificate to renew it.

Bottom line, her baptismal records cannot be changed without a legal document.
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In Canada, until around 2004, you could get a passport with a certificate of baptism depending on where you lived.

It can be a catch 22 situation when the info is wrong.

When my dad found out, in his late 70s, early 80s, that he’d never been registered with Vital Statistics, he got registered late based on his baptismal certificate information. The name on the certificate, which he’d always been aware of but which no one but I & my brothers had ever used, was Léandre. He’d always gone by ‘Leonard’, or Len, and had to change all his pension/social insurance/bank info after he got his birth certificate. Ironically, my daughter called her son “Leonard”, after her grandfather, because that’s what she’d always heard everyone call him and I’d never referred to him as anything but Dad or Pepère around her.

In this province the Churches used to send the information to Vital Statistics and to this day VS will look for a baptismal certificate if the person is seeking late registration. If the person applies to VS for a birth certificate and the info they give doesn’t jibe with what VS has on file, VS calls the parish of baptism and if what’s on file at VS matches what’s in the baptism register the person is stuck with it unless they go to court.
 
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