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Where to baptise?

by
02 November 2006

Your answers

Our daughter, a confirmed Anglican, married a Roman Catholic in our parish church with the permission of our son-in-law’s bishop. They now regularly worship in their local Methodist church. Expecting their first child, what should they do about baptism?

In baptism, a Christian is received into the Body of Christ, signified by the community in which he or she worships. If your daughter and son-in-law are committed to worshipping and raising their child in their local Methodist church, they may reasonably consider Methodist baptism as their primary option.

Questions may be raised about the undertaking that your son-in-law will have made before marriage to baptise and raise any children in the Roman Catholic Church. This undertaking is made “within the scope of my marriage”, and, while important, is not binding.

The couple may wish to consider Roman Catholic (or Anglican) baptism; such a baptism would make sense only if the child was then given a Roman Catholic (or Anglican) upbringing, and taken regularly to mass.

Since each of the Churches involved recognises each other’s baptism, the child will still have the option of being received into membership of any of the Churches at a later stage.

A shared celebration of baptism may also be a possibility if the couple wish to include more than one tradition. Again, this would be relevant only if one or both of them remains involved in his or her original tradition — if your son-in-law still attends mass, for example.

A shared celebration will be possible if local priest and minister are both willing, and would normally take the form of a Roman Catholic baptism in which another minister is actively involved. He or she would not pour the water or pronounce the words of baptism.

Information and support for inter-Church couples, their families and their ministers, with questions about baptism, is available from the Association of Interchurch Families.
(The Revd) Beverley Hollins
Association of Interchurch Families
London SE1

Your Questions

When I was a lad being prepared for confirmation, we were encouraged to make the sign of the cross at the end of the Creeds and the Gloria. I’ve noticed in some places that this is no longer the custom. Has something changed? S. H.

A few years ago, a book reviewed in the Church Times reported people’s near-death experiences on the operating table. Can any-one give me the details of the book? S. E.

Can anyone recommend a people’s setting of the modern-language mass which suggests a more mystical view of the sacrament, perhaps, than that implied by the poorly crafted jollity of so much current church music? T. M.

Address for answers and more questions:Out of the Question, Church Times, 33 Upper Street, London N1 0PN.

questions@churchtimes.co.uk


 

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