What do I do if my baptismal certificate was lost?

[jdcjdc]

I am a Roman Catholic. I recently visited the church I was baptized at as a child to request a new baptismal certificate, which I need to marry. The church has checked twice and says they cannot find any record of me being baptized there. I brought this up with my mother and she is positive that is where I was baptized. She maintains she would not forget where I was baptized as a baby. My younger sister was baptized at the same church and her records are there and my mother has old photos of my baptism at that church and my godparents also remember I was baptized at this church. My mother became the godmother of my godparents’ son at this same church as well. Again, my mother is sure that church is where I was baptized.

So my question would be: Is there any other way to get an original baptismal certificate? Are additional records archived or kept anywhere else in a central location? This is scary because I went to Sunday school as a child, confession, confirmation at another church when we moved away, and all this time there appears to be no record of my baptism. Help, please?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Please try to remain calm. There is no need to worry. If, as a worst case scenario, no certificate can be found anywhere, you could conditionally receive baptism and confirmation in order to start a new sacramental record. But I doubt it will come to that.

Call the parish where you were confirmed. It is possible that your sacramental record was transferred there instead of notification of your confirmation being given to your baptismal parish. (Paperwork mixups happen.) If that doesn’t work, call the diocese in which you were baptized and ask for help in tracking down your sacramental record. If all else fails, call the St. Joseph Foundation for their recommendations.