Why shouldn't we just baptize everyone we can?

[Alice_Hori]

According to my understanding, Baptism is efficacious no matter the disposition of the person baptizing (even if they are a non-believer), as long as the baptizer intends to baptize the person being baptized into the Church. If the person being baptized is an infant, the disposition of his/her parents does not affect the efficacy of the baptism. Baptism makes us members of the Church, heirs of heaven and children of God. It fills us with sanctifying grace and takes original sin from our souls. Why then would we not want infants to be baptized even though they are unlikely to be raised in the faith? Would not baptism still have a salutary effect on their souls and assist in their salvation? I have a personal interest in this as my husband was validly baptized in the Episcopalian church though his parents never raised him Christian afterwards. He was nevertheless drawn to other Christians, and eventually was confirmed a Catholic. His faith is still shaky, but nevertheless, he has a great respect for the Church and the laws of God, attends Mass every Sunday, and is generous towards the Church with his talent and treasure. I cannot but think that his being baptized as an infant moved him toward God. But the Church tells us that we ought not to baptize our children if we do not intend to raise them in the Faith, and we ought not to secretly baptize children whose parents are not Catholic. Why not given all the graces and indeed the adoption as sons and daughters of God that Baptism brings?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

160 To be human, “man’s response to God by faith must be free, and. . . therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. The act of faith is of its very nature a free act.” “God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced. . .”

1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. “God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.”

Forced baptism violates the dignity of the free will of the human person. It is an attempt to coerce the unwilling. The free will and choice of man to respond to God or not respond must be respected. God does not coerce or force us and neither should we to others. Forced baptism almost reflects a lack of trust that God can accomplish His will without our deceptive efforts.

1123 “The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.”’

Sacraments presuppose the recipient has faith, or in the case of infant baptism that the parents have faith that will be imparted to the child. Sacraments are not magic, they require faith. Sacraments build on nature, they do not ride roughshod over it.

2211 The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:

• the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family’s own moral and religious convictions;

2221 The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. “The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.” The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.

Parents have the natural right to raise their children according to their conscience. It is only in the gravest of circumstances that this basic right can be overridden. To baptize a child against the will of the parents, not only negates the importance of a free response to God’s grace, violates the natural order of things as established by God.