Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!timbuk!cs.umn.edu!ub.d.umn.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Validity of Baptism (Was Re: In Communion with Rome?) Message-ID: Date: 6 Nov 90 03:21:16 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 38 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article mib@geech.ai.mit.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) writes: > >To sum up, while I'm sure the Episcopal church requires baptisms to be >performed by a priest ordained by a bishop in the apostolic >succession, I'm also sure that they accept as valid baptisms even >those administered by non-christians. The Episcopal Church's definition of "Christian" is broad enough that I doubt that this question arises very often in practice. Actually, the 1976 prayer book specifically permits baptisms by laymen, going so far as to give an order for the administration of baptism by "any Christian in case of need." In fact, there is a form for conditional baptism of a person who is not sure (or from whom it cannot be ascertained) whether he/she is baptized. It goes something like this: "If you are not already baptized, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Baptism is the only one of the seven/two (depending on whom you ask) sacramental rites which can be validly administered by a layman, though it is the prerogative of a bishop or priest to officiate when one is present. Confirmation, on the other hand, can only be administered by a bishop, and it is quite common for Episcopalians being confirmed to travel to another parish conveniently close to their own for the confirmation service, since in most dioceses the bishop is only able to visit a given parish once every two or three years. Since the advent of open communion in the Episcopal Church, confirmation is no longer required of communicants; however, it is still practiced for both youth coming of age and for those coming into the EC from other denominations. Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Lutherans are excepted, since their previous confirmations are recognized as following in Apostolic Succession. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com