Will my baby's baptism be delayed too long?

[Princess_Abby]

I could likely deliver my baby during Lent. Our baptismal prep classes here fill up months in advance and we won’t be able to attend until mid-May. Both my husband and I are nervous about delaying our baby’s baptism until possibly June (after the class and when it will probably be scheduled) when she’ll be 3-4 months old already.

What can we do about this? A friend told me he knows someone who chose to baptize his baby with tap water, himself, because he felt like a newborn could be considered in imminent danger of death – with all that is at risk when it comes to a new baby (SIDS, etc). I don’t know if this was even valid and it’s not something we want to do, we would just like to keep our baby’s soul safe. Waiting 3-4 months doesn’t seem very considerate of her eternal soul.

Should we just trust that we’ve shown God our desire to baptize and if something tragic happened, he would honor that? It seems risky, even though I know God isn’t bound by sacraments.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

While three or four months may not seem to those conducting the baptismal classes to be an unreasonable delay in a society with low infant-mortality rates and a high standard of pediatric care, the Church does require parents to have their child baptized within the first few weeks after birth. It does not seem just cause to delay a baby’s baptism merely because the baptismal classes at the parish have filled.

It is true that this situation does not establish just cause to baptize the baby yourself, though. Assuming your report of the story is accurate, the baptism of which you heard was likely valid (i.e., a true baptism) but certainly illicit (i.e., unlawful). There must be an actual danger of death – not just an, as yet, unfounded fear of death – to justify an emergency baptism.

I recommend that you call your diocese and ask either for the name of a parish with a shorter waiting list for baptismal preparation classes or for the name of a priest or deacon in the diocese who will be willing to personally prepare you for baptism and preside at the baptism. Here are some canons from the *Code of Canon Law *that may be helpful should you need to substantiate your request that your baby be baptized as soon as possible:

As a rule and unless a just reason suggests otherwise, an adult is to be baptized in his or her proper parish church, and an infant in the proper parish church of the parents (canon 857 §2, emphasis added).

Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptized within the first few weeks. As soon as possible after the birth, indeed even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child, and to be themselves duly prepared for it (canon 867 §1, emphasis added).

For more information on the canonical regulations of baptism, please consult the St. Joseph Foundation.