Why is a baby being denied a Catholic baptism?

[all_my_children]

A baby is being denied a Catholic baptism because the parents were not married in a Catholic ceremony. A Catholic ceremony was planned on a military base, however the priest was sent out of the country a few days before the event. Because all arrangements and invitations were sent out, it was too late to cancel, so a minister of another faith filled in and performed the ceremony in his faith.

Now a baby was born of that union and she is being denied a baptism in the Catholic faith because, according the priest in the parish, the parents were not married in a Catholic church. I was a CCD teacher for many years having taught 3rd grade and our theme was that God (the Church) closes it’s doors to no one. However it is very plain that the doors are being closed to this child. I thought a priest’s responsibility was spreading the word of Christ here on earth. However Christ forgave everyone including the people who condemned him and put him to his death. What am I not seeing here?

Does this child not have the right to be baptized? Who allows this priest to make such decisions? He should sit down and look into his faith and the reason he chose his life. He is making himself a dictator and definitely not spreading the word of God. I have a child who was not married in a Catholic ceremony but he had his two children baptized in the Catholic Church because that is the way he wants to raise them. His parish never even questioned his marriage ceremony, and why should it matter?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Given the circumstances you report, I don’t know why this baby is being denied a Catholic baptism. I can only recommend to the parents, if they want their child to be baptized and their marriage status examined to determine if it needs to be regularized, that they contact their local diocese for assistance.

The more important question to be asked here though is why you have involved yourself in the matter, to the extent of judging the priest a “dictator.” There’s been no claim to a familial or friendly relationship with the parents, or to any delegation by them to help them in resolving it. On top of that, there’s been no indication of knowledge of the priest’s reasons for believing the couple’s marriage to be invalid or for presumably believing the couple is unable and/or unwilling to raise the child Catholic (one of the requirements for infant baptism). But there has been a clear condemnation of a priest, who for all that can presently be determined, might have good reason to question whether or not a baptism should be celebrated at this time.

I can only say that it seems to me to be a more just solution for those who are not directly involved in the situation to step aside and allow this family and their priest to work it out for themselves.