DC Catholics I Need Your Help
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Anonymous
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I would like to return to the Catholic faith. It looks like I need copies of my baptism and First Holy Communion. I can't not get them from my birth mother who was Catholic. She lost custody of me at the age of 10 due to mental health issues and my birth father is deceased. I was raised by my paternal grandparents who are now deceased and they were not Catholic. Actually, they were opponents of the Catholic faith and extremely hateful people. I have no physical contact with my birth mother who was Catholic. Will the church give me a copy of these documents if I request it?
I'm currently residing in another state. I want to know how do I obtain the original copies of my infant baptism and my First Holy Communion? Do I contact the parish or does the Archdiocese of Washington keep a record of these documents? My baptism occurred in the 70's and my First Holy Communion occurred in the 80's. I will be traveling to DC within the next few weeks. Do I need to make an appointment with a priest or someone else to obtain copies? Or can I get them faxed or e-mailed to me if I provide my identification, the year of the events, etc.? I also need your assistance with the following: I do plan to relocate back to DC someone time next year. Can someone recommend a diverse parish (in NW DC or Montgomery County MD). I prefer a parish that focuses on social justice issues, community outreach, and one with a great youth program. What classes will my family and I need to take in order to become Catholic? Is the RCIA course for all ages? I have two sons that never had baptisms or First Holy Communions. How do I go about obtaining godparents, sponsors for my confirmation, etc.? I don't know anyone. If I can't find a Catholic to be godparents for my children or someone to sponsor me for my confirmation, then what should I do? I need recommendations for Catholic schools (in upper NW or Montgomery County) for my boys (10 & 7). I'm open to both coed and all boys' schools. I've been married for 17 years. However, my husband and I were not married in the Catholic faith. Do we have to retake our wedding vows in a Catholic Church to have our marriage recognized by the church? I truly appreciate any assistance that you can provide me. |
Anonymous
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OK to get baptism and first communion copies- do you know the church you were baptized in? They will have the copies.
Depending on your sons' ages, they will just go through regular classes for baptism and first communion. I made mine a year or two late and it was fine. My dad went through RCIA and I went with him as a teenager. It seemed more for adults, but was very interesting. If you don't know any Catholics to be godparents they will assign you a godparent. It's easy to have your marriage blessed. |
Anonymous
| Just need to contact the church that did your sacrements. I believe church for first communion should have baptismal information so the communion church may be all you need. You should be able to request them from the church by phone call. Your whole family can go thru RCIA together. You will learn most about sponsors/godparents thru an RCIA interest session. Some of the catholic schools in the DC area are not that easy to get into unless you are already a parishioner and some of the independent catholic schools are very difficult to get into. |
Anonymous
| Goodness, one step at a time. First work on obtaining your documents and start attending mass. You don't need to do all the rest right away. Just start going to mass as a family. |
Anonymous
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It sounds like Holy Trinity in Gtown might be a good fit for you.
The church where you were baptized should have those docs. Also, maybe check with the diocese office. They should be able to fax/mail/email them. |
Anonymous
http://trinity.org. They also have a lower school. |
Anonymous
| Contact someone at Holy Trinity in Georgetown. They will help you through ALL of this and their "requirements" will be much more (and I mean much more) lenient than other parishes. They have really been fantastic to work with through a number of situations that were a little outside the norm. I would absolutely start there. |
Anonymous
| The church where you were baptized should have all your records. At least here in NY, the place you're baptized is considered the "keeper" of of your records, and they would have been sent your first communion date and such. |
Anonymous
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Welcome home!
Just a couple things to add: I would post your school questions in the Private Schools forum, and your new church can help you find sponsors/godparents etc. They have people who volunteer for those things; that's how I found my RCIA sponsor when I joined the Church as an adult. |
Anonymous
| We Holy Trinity in Georgetown, too. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, I don't think you need copies of these documents. A friend of mine converted to Catholicism as an adult and he did a RICA class. As an adult, you can take a RICA class; to don't need to "prove" you were baptized, etc. |
Anonymous
Yes, that is the regulation everywhere. You are entitled to copies of your records regardless of who has died, etc. Just call your baptismal church and give them as many details as you have so they can easily look up their files. Even if you don't need them (which you likely will eventually) I would request them just to have. In the meantime I would suggest finding area churches (Holy Trinity comes to mind but there are also many in Montgomery County suburbs that are socially active) and attend Mass/read the bulletins/read their websites/attend some events. Committing to more right now is a lot. Moving forward, when you find a parish home you will find their faith formation classes. Our parish even has special classes for kids who missed "traditional" timing for sacraments so they don't have to go to religious education with younger kids. If you pursue faith formation classes and feel called to continue in the church, you will likely have your marriage blessed in the church (provided neither of you were previously divorced. Is your DH Catholic?) Your parish will help you find sponsors/godparents. Many RCIA teachers do it for their "students." I also highly encourage you to speak with the priests you meet. I'm sure you will find several who will be very helpful in guiding you into a fulfilling church experience. When you do find your new parish, post again and I will try to help more. |
Anonymous
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There are 3 churches to explore:
1. Holy Trinity in Georgetown (Jesuit) 2. Sacred Heart in Columbia Heights (Franciscan) 3. There is 1 in Silver Spring that I think is Franciscan as well - possibly St. Camillus Of the 3 Holy Trinity is the least diverse. All are welcoming in what ever situation you are in. We are parishioners of Holy Trinity in Georgetown and when we were getting one of our children baptized I wanted to know if we needed documentation that the God Parents were catholic (I needed to provide this for a parish in Arlington VA). The priest looks at me and says - we are Jesuits. Enough said - no papers required 
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Anonymous
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Also - Holy Trinity separates sacrament preparation from religious education.
There are so many families who are there after moving from another part of the country (world) where sacraments are on another schedule. It is not a big deal at all. |
Anonymous
| I would also look at Annunciation School in NW DC for your boys. There are other posts on this website regarding other heavily social justice oriented parishes. Blessed Sacrament is mixed: it is a bastion of Irishness and upper class white, but they have a ton of social justice activities. I find it helpful to connect to their projects and they have a Tuesday school of religion, but I am often elsewhere for mass where it is more ethnically diverse. |