Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!purdue!gatech!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!geneva.rutgers.edu!christian From: carlos@beowulf.JPL.NASA.GOV (Carlos Carrion) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Baptism Message-ID: Date: 31 Jul 89 02:35:20 GMT Sender: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu We'd like to get some of your thoughts on baptism. Both my wife and I are catholic ( at least we were brought up as catholic...), and we'd like to baptize our baby girl who is about 2 weeks old. Since my wife is divorced, the catholic church will probably give us a hard time ( or so says my wife ) on this and my wife does not want to go through any questions or comments that she might feel uncomfortable with. I have not had any dealings with the church in these matters, so I don't have much to go on. All I know is that I don't want my wife to be made out as some kind of a 'sinner' because of her divorce. What would you do in our case? Are there any 'progressive' catholic churches or priests that might help us? We live in southern california. Thanks. carlos. "May the Good Lord take a liking to you and blow you up real soon!" ...cit-vax!elroy!jpl-devvax!beowulf!carlos ...cit-vax!elroy!jpl-devvax!pituco!carlos [I would be very surprised if a Catholic church would withhold baptism from your child because of something you did. However there are others on this list in a better position than I to provide details. My understanding of the Catholic position is that they want to see every child baptized, and even authorize non-Catholic laymen to baptize in emergency situations. Thus I would expect that for a Catholic, baptizing your child would be a separate issue from any problems you might have in paticipating in the life of the church. I have some problems with this personally. I do not want to see baptism turned into a superstition, an act that is done even by people who have no intention of participating in the church, because of some remaining fear that somehow their child will be better off. The Presbyterian view on this issue is that baptism is intended to indicate the entry of a child into the church, and that it should only be done if the parents intend to be a part of the church. Thus we would not encourage you to baptize your child if there was some reason that prevents you from participating in the church. I would encourage you to think not just about baptism, but about creating a Christian home for your child. You may well be able to do this within the Catholic church. A lot will depend upon the individual priest. But if your situation is going to cause you to stay away from the church after the baptism, I encourage you to try to find some Christian community in which you can participate. ---clh]