Suggestions for a Catholic Church in MC with an open-minded head priest for baptism?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for suggestions for a Catholic Church in Montgomery County with an open-minded priest who is willing to baptize the infant of a catholic parent and non-catholic christian parent who weren't married in a catholic church. Apparently the parish priest at St. Jude's in Rockville has refused to do the ceremony after giving a tongue-lashing to catholic parent for making a "bad choice" by marrying a non-catholic outside of the church and reducing her to tears. I know that some parishes have head priests that are more flexible than others, so I'm hoping someone can steer us in the right direction.

Any thoughts on St. Peter's in Olney? Holy Redeemer in Kensington? St. John the Evangelist in SS? Any others?

Thanks in advance for help. I never thought it would be so difficult to find a priest to welcome a baby into the church. I had no trouble finding a catholic priest to baptize my kids -- and my husband is Jewish.

[Anonymous]

You could try St. Elizabeth's in Rockville, on Montrose Rd. I'm not sure how they'd react, but before we moved we were parishioners there and LOVED the parish quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

I don't know of any in MC. I was in a similar situation. Im the catholic, my husband, Hindu, and we had a civil ceremony. Annunciation church in DC did the baptism with absolutely no issues. The priest was great too.

[Anonymous]

Holy Trinity in DC wil do it - no tounge lashing at all.

[Anonymous]

I babtized my DD in the Most Blessed Sacrament in Chevy Chase and they let me bring my own priest. He was open minded. In my case my worries were that my DD's godfather is gay. They were very open and nice.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Annunciation in DC, Monsignor Lockman the Pastor is such a nice man, not to mention he has that great Irish charm! It's a great church, very inclusive, and not super conservative like so many suburban VA (and MD too sounds like) Catholic churches, which I loathe. Annunciation is near the intersection of Mass and Wisconsin Avenue in NW, a few blocks from the National Cathedral.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I were in a similar situation and we went to St. Peters in Olney. They would not baptize our daughter unless my husband completed the catholic sacraments but they would baptize the child of the unwed mother who was in the class with us because she was from a "good" (probably good donating) Catholic family. This turned us off so much that we have never gotten DD baptized

[Anonymous]

OP here: I called the Archdiocese of Washington to find out what the rules are with regards to baptism in this situation and the person I spoke to said that all the priest really needs is evidence of a commitment on the part of the parents to raise the child as a Catholic (regardless of the religion of both parents, where they were married, etc.). I said that the fact that a person called a parish and asked to have their child baptized seems like evidence to me. The person I spoke with agreed. The Archdiocese suggested calling around to local parishes, explaining the situation and offering to join whatever parish agreed to do the ceremony. (The Archdiocese also suggested writing a letter of complaint to the Archdiocese about the priest and his behavior -- they said it's the only way for them to know about rogue priests.) IMHO: it shouldn't be this hard to have a child baptized. No wonder so many Catholics are leaving the church. Thanks for the info on St. Peter's.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about baptism specifically, but DH (Catholic) and I (no religion) chose to get married at St. Aloysius in DC, near the Capitol, because they were much more welcoming to me and less conservative than the churches near us in NOVA. We found the DC diocese to be much different than the Arlington diocese.

[Anonymous]

I was in same situation with our baby's baptism - my dh is catholic, I am not and obviously, not married in a catholic church. We found that The Church of the Little Flower was pretty open minded with us. THey did ask us to have both god parents be catholic, but that was ok with us. It's on Mass Ave and they do private baptisms, which I also really liked.

[Anonymous]

I am not Catholic, but was one of the godparents to 3 kids of my friends, and they were baptized at St. Mary's in Rockville. I believe that none of the godparents was/is Catholic, and that wasn't a problem. This was several years ago, so don't know if they have the same priest. But worth a try since he was open to that. Can't imagine that a priest would refuse to do a baptism in the situation you describe--regardless of the parents' religion, seems like he'd be happy that they were making a commitment to raise the kids Catholic! Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not Catholic, but was one of the godparents to 3 kids of my friends, and they were baptized at St. Mary's in Rockville. I believe that none of the godparents was/is Catholic, and that wasn't a problem. This was several years ago, so don't know if they have the same priest. But worth a try since he was open to that. Can't imagine that a priest would refuse to do a baptism in the situation you describe--regardless of the parents' religion, seems like he'd be happy that they were making a commitment to raise the kids Catholic! Good luck.

I do find it very unusual and probably unlikely that a priest would agree to godparents who aren't practicing Catholics. When our children were baptized at St. Elizabeth's in Rockville, the godparents were required to be registered in a parish and to provide our pastor with a letter from their parish proving that they were registered and that they'd attended baptism orientation. Parents of course have to be members of the parish.

[Anonymous]

Each Parish has their own rules as to who they allow to be Godparents.

Holy Trinity requests that 1 godparent is Catholic and the other can be christian. Parents were required to attend a baptism preparation class, god parents did not have this same requirement.

In comparison, my nephew was baptized in a church in the Archdiocese of Arlington earlier this year. 1 godparent needed to be Catholic AND not only show evidence that they were registered in a Parish - if they were married they needed to be married within the Catholic Church - no civil ceremonies / interfaith marriages allowed!

[Anonymous]

Little Flower in Bethesda. I'm a single mom and had my baby by artificial insemination. When I asked to have my child baptized, no questions were asked about the father, about how I conceived. I was raised as a catholic and it was very important to me that I raise my son in the same faith. I put off my son's baptism for several years because I was afraid I'd be lectured and rejected and I wouldn't be able to handle the devastation. I'm happy to say that my son was welcomed into the church in a beautiful, moving private baptism. I can't say enough about Little Flower.

[Anonymous]

Try Resurrection Catholic Church in Burtonsville, MD. Father Keffer is awesome. He is all about the diversity of the community. I am not positive if they will do it, it may just be a catholic 'rule'. But if it is possible he would. He is so great.