Baptizing

It depends on the denomination. Your responses will vary on the congregation. Some churches only baptize adults and only then upon membership. One friend had a hard time because her daughter attended a Catholic church, but the friend herself was agnostic and did not. She wanted a minister friend to baptize the child but he said that it would violate the rules of his church to do so for her since she had no church associations (he was not a Catholic priest). My own pastor met with us and talked to us. My husband does not generally attend church. I do. My pastor asked if we were doing it out of tradition or if we really wanted to present our child to God/the church and promise to raise her in our (my) faith. It was a thought-provoking question. One of the commitments you are making when baptizing a child is to raise that child to know God. Some churches require that as part of that vow, you have some association with their congregation before they will permit it, especially if the child is under the age of membership (an age where they can decide themselves). Since it is your hometown church, that association may give you a pass on these regulations but be prepared for it.

My DD's godparents were there and did stand with us, but it was not required. In Catholic churches, I believe it is.

There's also "secular" godparents and "religious" godparents. The secular ones are there for the child if you get hit by a bus. The religious ones help you raise the child in the faith. They can be one and the same, but sometimes they are not. (My DD's godparents are the same on both counts.)

Good luck in your search. You may discover more about yourself in this process, too.

Depends on the church as some are more strict than others. My sister lives out of state and had her daughter baptized at our parents' church. She had to submit a letter from her church verifying that she is a member. She actually wasn't, so she had to first join her local parish. I am my niece's godmother and I don't think I had to prove that I am a member of my church, but my other sister did have to get a letter from her parish verifying that she was a member in good standing before my church would list her as the godmother.

My understanding is that the godparents, or someone who can stand in for them, have to be at the ceremony. Godparents are a pretty important part of baptism, so I can't really understand why you would think you can have your children receive the sacrament without at least designating who they are.

Finally...I do have to ask the "what's the point?" question. If you don't attend church, don't plan on attending church, won't put them in religious education, and won't have them receive the other sacraments (your 7 year old should be making her first Penance and First Holy Communion this year) then what will baptism do? Is it just a formality? Or do you actually want to give them the gift of faith and raise them in it?

The catholic church can be strict in this regard. In order to baptize my daughter in the catholic church, both my husband and I had to provide the church with our baptizm, confirmation & marraige records. We were not married in the church, so we had to get remarried in the church. We had to be a member of the catholic church & we had to have godparents that were also catholic, and yes they had to be present. I'm glad we did all that though because a catholic baptizm was very important to me. I don't know about non-catholic churches, so I have to advice in that regard. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you all the best.

The Catholic Church identifies the Sacrament of Baptism as one of the Sacraments of Initiation. In other words, it is one of the sacraments that welcomes a person into the faith community. It is generally seen as the first sacramental step a person takes to become a member of the Church and their local church. I'm curious as to why you would want to have your children baptized if you have no interest in belonging to a church.

I'm letting you know this because it is very possible the priest will be looking for you and possibly your husband to become active members of a Catholic church. Many do not favor baptizing children whose parents do not intend to become members of the parish or church.

Catholic churches usually require the parents to attend a baptismal class. Many will require the parents to be married in the Catholic Church. Some even require the Godparents to be practicing Catholics and to provide proof of active participation in a Catholic parish.

When our oldest son was baptized, I happen to be working at the church. Our pastor (my boss) asked me if the Godparents were practicing Catholics. I truthfully told him that my sister was and my husband's brother was a non-practicing Catholic. He was ok with it, because one of them was practicing. My sister could not be there, so my brother's wife stood in for her. She is also a practicing Catholic.

It's hard to know what the priest is going to say, because he does have the authority to make many of those decisions for his own parish, but you might want to think about what you will say to him when he asks why you don't attend church and why you want to have them baptized if you don't attend.

Also, according to Church law, a child of age 7 has reached the age of reason and should go through the RCIA process and be Baptized, Confirmed and receive the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. Personally, I think that's ridiculous! I know priest who agree and choose to baptize them on a weekend just as they would a younger child or an infant. But there are some who take that rule very seriously and will not baptize your older daughter until she goes through the RCIA process.

Each church/religion is different so definately check with the priest or preacher at the church you want to have them baptized in. That said, it is my understanding that in the Catholic religion you do need Godparents, in good standing with the church. In the Methodist church, you CAN have witnesses (which are typically the Godparents). Also, you should decide what role you want Godparents to play (the traditional religious role or the role of guardian should something happen to you and your hubby). If it is the latter, please be sure to have that taken care of legally as that is separate from the baptism.

The other thing is, when you have a child baptized, you are promising to bring the child up in the church (specifically that religion). If you don't plan on taking your children to and bringing them up in the Catholic church, you may want to consider having it done in a non-denominational church near where you live. Most baptism do have others present and they too are promising to help raise your child in that religion so to do so without intending to follow through, you are asking them to promise to do something you will not allow them to follow through on.

I was baptized in the Catholic church, grew up in the Lutheran church (where they baptize babies), and belong to the Methodist church now. All 3 of my boys were baptized as infants and my stepson was almost 4 when he was baptized on the same day as my oldest son (in the Methodist church). I'm not sure of all the rules with the Catholic church, except I know that the godparents have to be Catholic. If you don't have any intention on becoming a member at a church, you might want to look at one of the Protestant religions where the rules aren't as strict.

It's nice to have at least one Godparent-because they will be asked to raise the children in the Church in the event that something were to happen to the parents-your sister could be their Godmother. You don't have to be a member of the church -but one of the parents will have to be Catholic, I believe, for their children to be baptized in the Catholic Church-it is a Sacrament-to be taken very seriously:
http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/The_Sa...
God bless all of you-you must be so excited!

When we baptized our kids we did so at the church we had been married, but we no longer attended mass there as we had moved. Still, the priest who married us is the one who did the baptism, so that was not an issue. When I became a god parent to my fabulous god son, we had to take a class at our parish and the bring that documentation with us to New Mexico where the baptism took place. Children are baptized at our current parish all the time, but the family does have to take a class and the godparents are part of that. Many of these families do not end up staying at our parish, but I have always thought they might be having the baptism here because this is where their family is. Not sure if this answers your question. I do think different parishes handle this in different ways.
Good luck.

Yes, the godparents need to be in attendance...or at least someone standing in as a "proxy". (I am a godmother and have also served as a proxy.) My two sons were also baptized Catholic, as were my husband and myself. Their godparents are the same--godmother is a practicing Catholic, godfather is not. The church requires one or both to be a confirmed, practicing Catholic. My older son was not baptized at the church which we attended and were registered. Instead, he was baptized at my parents' church, also the church in which we were married. (This was due to the fact that we lived out-of-town at the time and this was more convenient for family members. I believe we did have to get permission from the pastor in order to do it.) My younger son was baptized at our own church. Also, we (parents) were required to attend a preparation class prior to baptism with our younger son (he's 9).

As far as my education in religion goes...the only church to baptize very young children is the Catholic church. Most other wait until the child is old enough to know right from wrong and make the choice to choose to be baptized.

Until they make that choice with the understanding of what it means they are considered to be innocent and not a sinner. Once they have reached a certain age and have not been educated and made a choice they become just like a regular person who has not made the choice to choose God, or The Atonement.

So, if you cannot find a Catholic priest to baptize your children then perhaps you could start looking around and find a church you like and will attend with the children. I truly believe they are innocent at this age and in no way at risk for anything other than rejoining Christ in Heaven if something were to happen to them.

Hi K..

When you explain your questions to the priest, I'm sure he'll be able to give more specific answers.

Regarding godparents... yes and no. For CHILDREN to be baptized you DO need to designate godparents. Also the person/people you choose will have to be CONFIRMED Catholics. That being said, if there is some reason the person you choose can't be there, you can have a proxy stand in for them at the actual baptism.

Also... the Catholic church requires baptism preparation classes for both PARENTS and GODPARENTS so you'll need to figure that into your planning and choosing. (It's the first sacrament, like communion or confirmation or marriage... they don't take it lightly).

Which brings me to YES you'll probably have to be a member of the church. If this is the Church where you grew up, they'll probably be more than happy to just have you re-register with them. I get that it doesn't seem fair... but remember, this isn't a "dedication ceremony" or some other symbolic gesture. Baptizing your children is a big deal in the Church. You are making them Catholic and declaring that you are going to raise them in the Church. If that isn't what you want, perhaps you want to have them Christened/Dedicated at one of the churches in your town.

I'm not catholic so I can't answer how a priest would answer. But most churches believe that baptism (as adult believer or infant) is part of being part of the church body and body of Christ. Believer baptism often is part of joining a church. Infant baptism the parents or grandparents are part of the church and part of the baptism is with the hope or understanding that you will try to raise the child in a church.
Baptism is not a magical formula that saves you.

As you can see by the answers, there are lots of differences among denominations, and even among individual Catholic parishes. So you will need to get your answers from the priest.

I did want to respond to those who are saying the godparents have to be Catholic. I am not Catholic; I am a practicing evangelical Christian. My Catholic brother and his wife asked me to be the godmother of their daughter because they wanted a family member who modeled the Christian faith and would support them in bringing their daughter up Catholic. My niece is 9 now, and I have been there for her baptism, First Communion, and other faith events. I do whatever I can to encourage her relationship with God, and I consider it a privilege.

Some churches don't babtize babies because they feel they need to make that decision on their own and go through classes to be babtized. They have their children dedicated to God instead. This is the way it was in the church I grew up in. When I married my husband I still wasn't babtized and we started going to the Methodist church because that is where he went growing up. My two older kids and I were babtized at the same time, oldest was 3 and the youngest was just under 2. My youngest child was babtized at 8 months old. My grandkids are (2)5 year olds and a 2 year old and none of them have been babtized yet.

We didn't have Godparents for our children. Godparents are suppose to take over the Spiritual wellbeing of the child and I was doing that. So with the Methodist you don't need to have GodParents. With any church you will have to talk with them about it and what is needed. There are non denomonal churches you may check out also. We belonged to the church so I don't know about it being a nessessary part. If your parents belong to a church that is where I would start.

Yes, our Catholic Church requires the godparents to be present. At least one of the godparents must be a practicing Catholic. I'm not sure if they require you to be a member. We were already members, so that wasn't an issue for us.