Your answers: On what occasions must a certificate of baptism be produced?

One occasion on which a baptism certificate must be produced is if you are getting married in Greece, as my stepson discovered, thirty years on from his baptism. It took some finding. Failure to do so would have meant full Orthodox baptism with oil before the wedding ceremony.

Tony Porter
Fleckney, Leicestershire
 

Under Canon B27 para. 4, concerning confirmation candidates, “The minister shall satisfy himself that those whom he is to present have been validly baptized, ascertaining the date and place of such baptism, and, before or at the time assigned for the confirmation, shall give to the bishop their names, together with their age and the date of their baptism.” So a request to see a baptism certificate is likely to occur at this time. Similarly, under Canon C4, para. 2, “Every bishop shall take care that he admit no person into holy orders but such as he knows either by himself, or by sufficient testimony, to have been baptized and confirmed.” There is no such legal requirement for marriage in a parish church in the Church of England, as being unbaptised is not a statutory exception to the priest’s duty to marry those who present themselves. An Anglican who seeks to be received into a different denomination may well be asked for a certificate of his or her baptism. Editor

Your question: Would there ever be room in GAFCON for female or unapologetically high-church priests without their having to abrogate, respectively, their Orders or their churchmanship?

Address for answers and more questions: Out of the Question, Church Times, 3rd floor, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TG.

questions@churchtimes.co.uk

We ask readers not to send us letters for forwarding, and those giving ansewrs to provide full name, address, and, if possible, telephone number.