Congratulations ………… on being a parent.
Your child is a great gift from God and the Church invites you to celebrate that gift through the Sacrament of Baptism.
This page will offer some reflections on the meaning of baptism and will help us as a parish to support you as parents and prepare for the celebration of Baptism.
All parents who wish to have their child baptised must attend a preparation course. These are run three times a year over two evenings, usually Wednesdays, for an hour each evening. It is important that both parents attend both evenings. Parents who are not Catholic are particularly welcome at these evenings as your support for your Catholic partner is vital to baptism having meaning in the life of your child. If the child to be baptised is of school age (aged 4 or over) they too must prepare. At least one of the parents must be a baptised Catholic themselves.
Baptism requires that there is a ‘well-founded hope’ that the child will be brought up in the Catholic faith. The first and most basic requirement of this is that the parents and family regularly and frequently attend Sunday Mass. In practice this means at least two Sundays in the month. If you do not already do this, please do not ask to have your child baptised until you have fulfilled this expectation for at least 6 months.
What is Baptism about? This passage from the baptism ceremony explains it well. ‘Dear parents and Godparents, you have asked to have this child baptised. In doing so, you are accepting the responsibility of bringing them up in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbour. Through Baptism, your child will be enlightened by Christ. May they always walk as a child of the light.’
Godparents. Two are necessary for the child getting baptised. The Godparents must be at least 16 years old and at least one of them must be a Catholic who has been confirmed, made their First Holy Communion and regularly attends their own parish. A parent of the child to be baptised cannot also be a Godparent. A non-Catholic may be a sponsor providing another person fulfils the role set out above.
Baptisms in our community take place at at any of our churches and the time is arranged with the priest or deacon who will do the baptism.
If you wish to enrol on a forthcoming baptism preparation course, look out for the dates appearing in the parish bulletin, speak to Fr Joe and complete the Baptism form here. You can also pick up a copy from the back of church. When you have completed all the details, return it in person to Fr Joe.
