Canon Law Made Easy

Q1: What makes a Catholic baptism Catholic?

I’m a lay Roman Catholic who just started working as a hospital chaplain, which means I may be called upon to administer emergency baptisms in some cases.  If I baptize, for example, an infant whose parents are Catholic, is that infant considered Catholic?  I assume, I guess, that the Catholic faith is what makes someone Catholic (whether you’re a consenting adult or you’re a child under the age of reason, in which case the Catholic faith of your parents would make you Catholic).  Is that assumption correct? –Nathan

Q2: I am a parish secretary and am responsible for recording sacraments in our books…. I have been coming across students who have just made their First Communion and Confirmation but were baptized in a Protestant church.

I have no information on why these children weren’t baptized Catholic, when or if their parent(s) were received into the Catholic Church and if so, how old the child was at the time.  I suspect in some of these cases there was at least one Catholic parent but he/she for some reason allowed for their child to be baptized in a Protestant church.

I asked our pastor about whether I need to create a record in our baptismal register for these children baptized outside the Catholic Church who are now making their other sacraments. Our pastor didn’t understand what I was talking about and said I only need to record in the First Communion and Confirmation log books. To my knowledge, these children never made a profession of faith/were officially received into the Catholic Church.

I am confused about this. Is there more information that these parents should be providing to our parish about the circumstances of their child’s baptism? Are these children supposed to actually be going through RCIA? I think our pastor might be incorrect in how he views these cases. –Mary Continue reading →