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Progressive Catholic Priest willing to baptize 7-year-old even though parents aren't Catholic?
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LZvara
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| I would also suggest Holy Trinity in Georgetown. Fr. Murray is really nice and seems to be open minded. good luck! |
Anonymous
Do you think that babies that are baptized appreciate the sanctity of it all? |
Anonymous
Of course not; they rely on the parents for that piece of it. Which seems to be the exact problem with this particular situation. |
Anonymous
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"To the 2215 poster, there is a lot more to the sacraments then "asking people to join and not turning them away"!! Where is the sanctity?
Catholicism is not "difficult" as you say, but the choices to follow the teachings can be. Hence a little thing called free will - CHOOSING to love God and whole heartedly accepting His grace through the sacraments. If you opt to be a cafeteria catholic and just want to pick and choose what you want to believe and follow then...well I will pray for you! " I am the 2215 poster... actually when I attended Engaged Encounters, part of precana, I was told that one of the things that makes a marriage work is that sometimes you choose to love the person you marry. That not all moments are happy go lucky wonderful marriage moments... that some things that are wonderful require work. I love my husband but sometimes marriage is difficult. I would classify being a catholic as being "difficult" sometimes. But in the same sense that marriage can be difficult. Anyways - the catholic church is making this VERY difficult for the OP - why wouldn't they welcome a child into the church with open arms? She is choosing freewill... and I guess I do too and probably don't understand all aspects of the Catholic Religion as much as I should - but I am not so Catholic as to not ask questions or second guess some of the stipulations put in place. I highly doubt that Jesus would turn this child away to be baptized. Thank you for the prayers! |
Anonymous
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I am a member of Holy Trinity Parish, so I would be interested in hearing what our clergy say about this situation. A couple of other points I want to make, particularly for non-Catholics so you have a better understanding of our faith and practices:
The 11:07 poster is correct: Confirmation, not Baptism, is the Sacrament at which we decide for ourselves to practice the Catholic faith. It is a reaffirmation of the decision our parents made for us at Baptism. I believe in this situation, the child could become Catholic, but mostly likely would do it though the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). If I read the sacramental guidelines of the Archdiocese correctly, the "age of reason" standard that applies to First Communion also applies to baptizing older children: "The Rite (RCIA) also provides for the initiation of unbaptized children of catechetical age, as well as for welcoming baptized Catholics and non-Catholics into full communion with the Church. Children who have reached the use of reason are considered for purposes of Christian initiation, to be adults." I encourage anyone interested in learning more about the Catholic Sacraments to check out the Archdiocese of Washington's info page: http://www.adw.org/faqs/sacr_init.asp To the OP, you might start by contacting someone at the Archdiocese. It might be that your child could participate in an RCIA program and complete it in time to participate in First Communion with her class. I know RCIA candidates usually go through the process in the months leading to Easter, and First Communions are usually held in the Spring. It may be the case that she would be baptized and take First Communion with her RCIA program, then the school could do something special for her at the First Communion ceremony welcoming her to the Catholic faith. Or maybe she would be baptized independently then do First Communion with the class. I'm only guessing here ... I admire your openness in letting her choose her faith and your support of her being Catholic. I think this, coupled with her Catholic schooling, will go a long way when you discuss this matter with priests, Church administrators, etc. I think it will be CRUCIAL to find strong Catholic sponsors for her. Do you know practicing Catholics who will take this journey with her? (Her religion teachers, maybe? Catholic friends and family who could do it via their parishes?) I urge you to have some Catholic sponsors on board as you try to make this happen. I think it's wonderful for her and very possible, as long as she has strong support. I would make sure, as someone else said, that this isn't just peer pressure or sadness that she can't participate. (Not saying that it is, but I know as a mom how desperate kids can be when they feel left out!) Best of luck ... I hope it works out. Please let us know what happens! |
Anonymous
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PP here again: Just curious, OP ... was your child baptized in another Christian faith?
This situation is very interesting to me. I'm going to see if I can dig up some more info for you. |
Anonymous
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PP again ...
Holy Trinity does an RCIA for children ages 7 and up (also called RCIC, I've learned). The program started in October. Here's the link to our Web page about it: http://www.holytrinitydc.org/Sacraments/PrepProg/CIC/index.htm There's contact info on that page. Let us know what you learn. |