Sandro Magister has written about the response of the Church in Argentina, and Cardinal Bergoglio in particular, to the secularisation of the country and the rising number of unbaptised infants. See: Go Forth and Baptize. The Wager of the Argentine ChurchThe Cardinal is keen to draw into the life of the Church those who are not practising their faith, especially those for whom poverty and a broken family life are factors increasing their marginalisation from the Church. In an interview with 30 Days, he gives an example which is quite moving:
"The child has no responsibility for the condition of his parents' marriage. The baptism of children can, on the contrary, become a new beginning for the parents. A while ago, I baptized the seven children of one woman, a poor widow who works as a maid and had her children by two different men. I met her on the feast of Saint Cajetan. She said to me, 'Father, I am in mortal sin, I have seven children and have never had them baptized, I don't have the money for the godparents and for the party... I saw her again and after a little catechesis I baptized them in the chapel of the archepiscopal residence. The woman said to me, 'Father, I can't believe it, you make me feel important'. I said to her, 'But madam, what do I have to do with it? It's Jesus who makes you important."The phrase "after a little catechesis" was encouraging to me, since that is essentially what I do. With sincere respect for those who require parents to come to three or four instruction sessions, I think that for parents of a young child, this is rather a burden. We are faced with the problem of parents presenting a child for baptism without having taken much part in the life of the Church before. I agree with the pastoral approach that seeks to encourage such families by baptising their children readily, and then trying to encourage people to get married, or to have their civil marriage convalidated, to return to Mass and confession, and to become a part of the general life of the parish.
In terms of the interpretation of Canon Law, the 1980 Instruction on Infant Baptism from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is quite lenient on the requirements for a "well-founded hope" that the child will be brought up in the Christian faith, accepting, for example, that the Godparents or the support of the community of the faithful would be sufficient.
Sandro Magister in the same article quotes the frank answer of Pope Benedict at a meeting with priests at Bressanone in August 2008, in which he admitted that he had been more strict as a young priest but had changed his mind over time.
10 comments:
I think it is rather sad that a "strict" view is taken by some priests of baptising babies because of some reason connected with the parents. The child should not be deprived of sacramental grace because of any act or omission of the parents.
I do know of several instances where parents who were not married took their new born infant to a Catholic priest and asked for the baby to be baptised but were refused.
The reaction has been to take the child to either a Church of Scotland or Church of Engand minister who will perform the baptism as, apparently they are legally required to do so.
Luckily they have been baptised. But an alternative reaction is for the child not to be baptised at all which would be a tragedy.
In all cases I have known where baptism has been refused, the parents have retired very seriously hurt and any possible avenue for reconciliation with the Church has been postponed or more likely lost forever.
The child and any future children
are lost to the Church. The child will not be educated in Catholic schools where it will receive a Catholic education including religious education. The child will not receive a Catholic education and will not receive the opportunity to be prepared and to take the other sacraments such as Penance, First Communion and Confirmation. The likelihood of rejoining the Catholic community is very remote.
Is it not more sensible to accede to the request of the parents to baptise the child so that some contact with the parents and the child can be maintained so that any such harmful consequences mentioned above are avoided, and so that opportunities arise for the chid to grow in the Catholic faith and for their parents to become reconciled to the Church ?
It is not about numbers. Is it not a question of how faith should be kindled, encouraged and transmitted ?
I had a conversation a while back in which a friend was agonising over whether to agree to be godparent to a child whose (Catholic) father refuses to regularise his marriage matters. Friend said that in the old rite the matter was better taken care of in that it was the godparents who presented the child for baptism.
I really applaud your approach towards parents of newly baptised. I think it is spot on and full of wisdom.
I have attempted wading my way through those worthy, humourless video courses which suggest you lay out a room with "wine and nibbles" whilst imprisoning new parents for six hours in a cold hall to watch a film that makes you lose the will to live, let alone inspires you to grasp the Catholic Faith with both hands.
Utterly detatched from reality, and badly produced. I won't use them. Your approach is the one.
No doubt the Catholic church in E and W won't be marketing it anytime soon, though. How would they cope with the stampede ?
Frankly, as the child of non-practising parents, I am immensely grateful for the grace I received in Baptism. Yes, it took a long time to take effect, but I do refer my subsequent conversion to the grace I received at that moment, for which I shall be, I hope, eternally grateful!
Also, it is often at this moment - I want my baby baptised, I want my child to go to this Catholic school... - that we have the moment to reach out to parents who would otherwise have little or no contact with the Church. I think a positive attitude, friendliness and a warm welcome at these moments is perhaps the best thing we can do towards reevangelising a generation which has entirely missed out.
The child will not be educated in Catholic schools where it will receive a Catholic education including religious education.
You must be having a laugh! Catholic schools providing Catholic education?!
As to the question of whether babies from non-practising parents should be baptised: isn't it a sacrilege of the sacrament, if baptism were imparted to the child who would not be raised properly in the faith?
@Hestor:
There are many reasons why someone is non-practicing ... not necessarily irecoverable lack of faith (not excluiding the impact of previous pre-baptism/marriage seminars ;-)
Such a rigorist approach is the MOST EASY WAY to make it definitive (save God's grace) both for parents AND childs
Bit of a "reductio ad absurdum" argument:
When my newborn daughter went into Critical Care, the hospital chaplain (we still have them, don't know for how long) offered us to baptize the child, just plain and simple, no questions asked.
Would the priest have sinned (if ever), not trying to perform a baptism on some "sin" of the fathers (aren't we ALL sinners?) or by doing it, saving a soul, at the cost of some (questionable) "irregular" sacramental administration?
Please, get catholic ... In due time HE will separate the wheat from the darnel. In the meantime, CARITAS
Hestor, you take a very harsh line. Did our Lord himself not say "suffer the little children to come unto me" when the disciples tried to turn them away. If we believe that the Sacraments are a means of God pouring out his Grace on mankind then why make it hard for people who WANT to receive them? Their motives and lives may not be perfect but we are called to be chanels of grace....not dams! God's Grace changes lives, let it flow.
Father Tim...I wonder if this may have implications for the other sacraments too? Children with learning difficulties, or other problems, may not be able to access the regular preparation programs for First Holy Communion or Confirmation for example. What should happen for them?
The grace bestowed upon a child in baptism should never be prevented because of the sins of the parent. This is the stance that the Church should take. Mercy upon sinners should be easy for us to dispense as we are all sinners, and we all require the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus.
The priest that baptised that woman's children is truly a pastor of Jesus Christ. I have 2 nephews and a niece that were not baptized by the parents, and I can see what a mistake my two sisters made by not baptizing their children while babies. As parents we have the right and duty of baptising our children and make them members of the Body of Jesus Christ; what a blessing. Now my niece has a child of her own and wants her child to be baptised but some people tell her she cannot baptise her child because she, herself, has not been baptised. I prayed for her before, my prayers were heard. I have to pray for her again.
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