Is this snarky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.

What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Well, the Catholic Church is quite bureaucratic, and while they do welcome people, you don't become a Catholic just by showing up. The parents and Godparents of the child have to be Catholics in good standing. They will need to present their own baptismal certificates to the officiating priest in order for the child to be baptised. This is quite different from Protestant churches, I assume. So yes, pp might be having quite a hard time getting this done. I was raised Catholic but didn't fully appreciate how much the paperwork mattered until my own Catholic wedding and son's baptism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.

What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Well, the Catholic Church is quite bureaucratic, and while they do welcome people, you don't become a Catholic just by showing up. The parents and Godparents of the child have to be Catholics in good standing. They will need to present their own baptismal certificates to the officiating priest in order for the child to be baptised. This is quite different from Protestant churches, I assume. So yes, pp might be having quite a hard time getting this done. I was raised Catholic but didn't fully appreciate how much the paperwork mattered until my own Catholic wedding and son's baptism.

Is this for real? If so, how has this religion not become extinct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.

What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Well, the Catholic Church is quite bureaucratic, and while they do welcome people, you don't become a Catholic just by showing up. The parents and Godparents of the child have to be Catholics in good standing. They will need to present their own baptismal certificates to the officiating priest in order for the child to be baptised. This is quite different from Protestant churches, I assume. So yes, pp might be having quite a hard time getting this done. I was raised Catholic but didn't fully appreciate how much the paperwork mattered until my own Catholic wedding and son's baptism.

Is this for real? If so, how has this religion not become extinct?

It will be soon.

Signed,

A former Catholic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.


What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Not Catholic churches. It's all about formality, rules, and ritual and whether they consider you "in good standing." I was raised Catholic, baptized and married in the church, but now attend a different denomination, and I have been in Catholic churches in the past few years for weddings and funerals where I was told to abstain from receiving Communion because it was for practicing Catholics only. It's very exclusionary, IMO. My church welcomes all Christian visitors to share in the Lord's Supper.

-- another former Catholic, now a member of a very welcoming Protestant church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.

What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Well, the Catholic Church is quite bureaucratic, and while they do welcome people, you don't become a Catholic just by showing up. The parents and Godparents of the child have to be Catholics in good standing. They will need to present their own baptismal certificates to the officiating priest in order for the child to be baptised. This is quite different from Protestant churches, I assume. So yes, pp might be having quite a hard time getting this done. I was raised Catholic but didn't fully appreciate how much the paperwork mattered until my own Catholic wedding and son's baptism.

This is why I hate organize religion. This is ridiculous. If you want to worship God, you can do so without any papers or "good standing" certificates. Sounds as bad as the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Very christian of you, OP.

Now get off your soap box and buy a sweet (if somewhat religiously themed) gift for the baby.

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Little-People-Noahs-Ark/dp/B000F7M8IA/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1289630697&sr=1-1

[Anonymous]

Oh give the OP a break! Don't we all have these thoughts? And isn't an anonymous message board the place to air those not-so-nice thoughts?

I do see the OPs point. I've seen so many friends without churches, who don't practice any religion, scramble to find a church willing to throw water on their kid's head. In most cases, it's a family church. I sort of wonder what's the point in that? I'm not religious, didn't baptize and often people are surprised in this almost superstitious way as if St. Peter is standing up in heaven with a master list of whoich little baby heads got doused 79.2 years ago. My own father said my kids were going to end up in "LIMBO!" if they died. Limbo is an old-school Catholic belief about where unbaptized babies go (sort of like Hell's waiting room).

Anyway, I'm sure OP will go and buy some appropriate baptism gift. I've done it many times over, while harboring the same thoughts.

[Anonymous]

PP, I suspect many non-practicing folks get their kids baptized out of family pressure. I know I felt that pressure. I come from a very strong Catholic family, but I am no longer Catholic. My parents strongly disapprove of our decision not to baptize our children. I feel pretty certain my parents have done an at home emergency baptism when babysitting. Whatever. It means nothing to me, but if it means something to them, that's fine. My point is, though, that people cave to the pressure. I would have but DH insisted that we were not doing it. Now I'm comfortable with that decision but it took years to be comfortable around my parents knowing how they feel about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh give the OP a break! Don't we all have these thoughts? And isn't an anonymous message board the place to air those not-so-nice thoughts?

I do see the OPs point. I've seen so many friends without churches, who don't practice any religion, scramble to find a church willing to throw water on their kid's head. In most cases, it's a family church. I sort of wonder what's the point in that? I'm not religious, didn't baptize and often people are surprised in this almost superstitious way as if St. Peter is standing up in heaven with a master list of whoich little baby heads got doused 79.2 years ago. My own father said my kids were going to end up in "LIMBO!" if they died. Limbo is an old-school Catholic belief about where unbaptized babies go (sort of like Hell's waiting room).

Anyway, I'm sure OP will go and buy some appropriate baptism gift. I've done it many times over, while harboring the same thoughts.

exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh give the OP a break! Don't we all have these thoughts? And isn't an anonymous message board the place to air those not-so-nice thoughts?

I do see the OPs point. I've seen so many friends without churches, who don't practice any religion, scramble to find a church willing to throw water on their kid's head. In most cases, it's a family church. I sort of wonder what's the point in that? I'm not religious, didn't baptize and often people are surprised in this almost superstitious way as if St. Peter is standing up in heaven with a master list of whoich little baby heads got doused 79.2 years ago. My own father said my kids were going to end up in "LIMBO!" if they died. Limbo is an old-school Catholic belief about where unbaptized babies go (sort of like Hell's waiting room).

Anyway, I'm sure OP will go and buy some appropriate baptism gift. I've done it many times over, while harboring the same thoughts.

exactly!

Amen!

[Anonymous]

Well OP, of course you can go ahead and give the baby a child's bible, but I can only say that if it was my child, this bible would end up in the trash.

[Anonymous]

What? Aren't churches supposed to be welcoming to new members?

Well, the Catholic Church is quite bureaucratic, and while they do welcome people, you don't become a Catholic just by showing up. The parents and Godparents of the child have to be Catholics in good standing. They will need to present their own baptismal certificates to the officiating priest in order for the child to be baptised. This is quite different from Protestant churches, I assume. So yes, pp might be having quite a hard time getting this done. I was raised Catholic but didn't fully appreciate how much the paperwork mattered until my own Catholic wedding and son's baptism.

This is why I hate organize religion. This is ridiculous. If you want to worship God, you can do so without any papers or "good standing" certificates. Sounds as bad as the DMV.

Don't take these facts about the Catholic church and now say all organized religion is ridiculous. Most other denominations welcome you without papers or baptism records. Other denominations don't batize until you are able to understnad what baptism means - so that comes later in life, anyway. Catholic does not equal all churches and Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, of course you can go ahead and give the baby a child's bible, but I can only say that if it was my child, this bible would end up in the trash.

Wow, really? You sound like an ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are such a jerk! First, who are you to pass judgment on what religious rites mean to other people? Second, I think it's pretty common for people to get their children baptized in the grandparents' church. At least in my extended family it is. Third, and perhaps most importantly, why can't you just look at this as a nice opportunity to celebrate a new member of your family? If they live out West, you probably haven't spent much time with the baby. This baptism might end up being important to the baby some day, and you are crapping on it for no good reason.

Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject for me. My ex-hippy parents didn't baptise me, but I would like to baptise my DD and give her at least some connection to a church. This is proving hard to navigate due to the fact that I'm not baptised.

What is wrong to get babtized now? There are many great churches in the area. Some have introduction classes where you can learn more about the church. Also, most churches have websites with their statement of faith. Pick one, go there, become a member and get baptized...maybe even with your child together.

[Anonymous]

Like clockwork, a DCUM thread with a religious component brings out the Catholic bashers. The reason that there is "paperwork" involved in the Catholic sacraments (baptism, marriage, the Eucharist, etc.) is that they MEAN something, and the Church wants to ensure that the participants understand and accept that. The reason a child needs Catholic godparents and confirmation sponsors is to ensure that there are people in the child's life guiding his/her faith development. That is so terrible? The Church welcomes anyone who sincerely wants to partake of the sacraments, but it isn't like signing up for a club or showing up for a party. The best things in life usually require some effort! Oh, and BTW, despite the legions of "former" Catholics around here, demographic studies show that it is overwhelmingly the Protestant denominations that are most rapidly declining in membership.