Dear Catholic Exchange,
My husband and myself are interested in the Faith and have decided to have our daughter baptized in the Catholic Church. Well as you know it takes time to become a part of the Church and we have chosen Catholic godparents. Will our baby be able to be baptized in the Catholic Church? If not, should we have it [the baptism] done in a Christian church?
Thank You,
Mrs. Rivera
Dear Mrs. Rivera,
Peace in Christ!
In the case of baptism of an infant the relevant canon says this:
Canon 868 §1 For the licit baptism of an infant it is necessary that
1. The parents or at least one of them or the person who lawfully takes their place gives consent;
2. There be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion; if such a hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be put off according to the prescriptions of particular law and the parents are to be informed of the reason.
The reason that a “founded hope” is required is that baptism is the sacrament of faith and since the child is too young to have its own faith it will be baptized on the strength of his parents' faith. The norm then is to baptize the children born to practicing Catholics. The situation becomes more difficult in the case of non-practicing Catholics or adults who wish to join the Church in your case. It is generally up to your pastor to determine what constitutes a “founded hope” in a given case. Since he will want to ensure that you will raise your daughter Catholic, you will probably have to have had some instruction yourselves and it is possible that he will want you to become Catholic first. The best advice we can give is to explain your situation to a priest of the parish you would wish to join and go from there.
United in the Faith,
Pete Brown
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
Editor's Note: To submit a faith question to Catholic Exchange, email faithquestions@catholicexchange.com. Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange becomes the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.
