Validity of protestant baptism

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uwwhitewater84

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Hello all

I’m in RCIA right now, and the pastoral minister asked me to bring her a copy of my baptismal record. Shed asked me if I was baptised and under what demonination, I told her I was baptised a Methodist. Or so I thought…

Come to find out, I was baptised by a United Church of Christ pastor. This morning, she told me that she didn’t know if this was a valid baptism or not. I’m looking around on the Internet and can’t find answer, since at one year old, I can’t remember if the minister baptised me in the name of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Is a UCC baptism recognized as valid by the Catholic Church?

Thanks!
 
Perhaps the quickest way to find out would be on a United Church of Christ website. They must have some sort of publicly available description of how they practice baptism which states whether they use the Trinitarian formula.
 
The Catholic Church recognizes “One Baptism for the forgiveness of sin”. In general, a Protestant Baptism is regarded as valid by the Church. Should there be any doubt as to validity, a “Conditional Baptism” can be performed. Your RCIA Instructor, or Priest should be able to provide you with any guidance you might need on the issue.
 
your diocese probably has a list of what non-Catholic baptisms are considered valid, and why or why not, because they know how these denominations “operate” within your diocese. For instance, here, not all Baptists are created equal, and each Baptist baptism has to be investigated.

also similar names for different sects or denominations may mean different things in different parts of the country. UCC is one of those Labels that needs to be looked at, and their baptismal practices investigated, because there are different denominations with very similar names and very different origins and practices.
 
I came from the Campbellite (“non united”) Churches of Christ. They don’t issue baptismal certificates but all I had to do have have a statement signed by a witness to my baptism that I was baptised using the trinitarian formula and it was accepted as valid.
 
uwwhitewater84 said:
Hello all

I’m in RCIA right now, and the pastoral minister asked me to bring her a copy of my baptismal record. Shed asked me if I was baptised and under what demonination, I told her I was baptised a Methodist. Or so I thought…

Come to find out, I was baptised by a United Church of Christ pastor. This morning, she told me that she didn’t know if this was a valid baptism or not. I’m looking around on the Internet and can’t find answer, since at one year old, I can’t remember if the minister baptised me in the name of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Is a UCC baptism recognized as valid by the Catholic Church?

Thanks!
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It depends. If the baptism was in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirt and water was properly used the baptism is valid. If not it wasn’t. Not all baptisms are, even all Catholic baptisms. There was a case in Australia where several thousand baptisms at a particular Catholic parish were deemed invalid due to the formula, they used Creator Sanctifier and Reedeemer and those baptized had to be re-baptized,
 
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