If a woman has a child out of wedlock, can she baptize the child in church?
Absolutely! Not only can the mother have her child baptized, but she should.
No child should be punished for the circumstances of his/her birth. Obviously, the ideal is that every child be born in a happy, holy Catholic family with a loving father and mother. However, the Church knows that reality is often far different from this. Regardless of the circumstances, though, the Church desires heaven and salvation for all people, no matter what. The salvation of souls is the “supreme law” that governs the Church (see Code of Canon Law 1752).
A child born out of wedlock is still precious in God’s eyes and in the eyes of the Church. The faithful actually have a right to be baptized, and the Church would only be able to refuse baptism under very particular and serious circumstances.
Chris Cammarata
Disclaimer!
The views, thoughts, opinions presented here belong solely to the author and are not necessarily the official view of the Jesus youth movement.
Dear Sir
Referring to the last line in your reply, “the Church would only be able to refuse baptism under very particular and serious circumstances”.
What are these situations or circumstances? Examples?
Good question. Actually, when I spoke about the Church “refusing” baptism, this isn’t the most accurate word. The Church can’t really “refuse” a baptism; at most it can only “delay” it.
First, there’s the obvious situation of a person (an adult in this case) who wants baptism but has no intention to live out the faith or belief in the truth of the faith. You have to want baptism to receive it!
Another possible scenario is in the case of an infant where both parents object to the baptism. If at least one parent gives consent, the baptism is still possible, but not if both the mother and father refuse. For instance, let’s say a grandmother wants to have her grandchild baptized, but the mom and dad absolutely refuse. Unfortunately, the mother and father are the ones with authority over the child, not the grandmother, and so she cannot secretly have the child baptized against their wishes. The only exception is if the child is in danger of death.
Then there’s the situation where the parents want the child baptized, but have no intention of raising the child in the faith. Following Canon 868.1, “if such hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be delayed according to the prescripts of particular law after the parents have been advised about the reason.” Note the seriousness of this statement–hope that the child will receive the faith must be altogether lacking. And even then, the Church cannot say “no”–it can only say “not yet!”
All of these cases involve a “delayed” baptism because the person has some impediment to receiving it. But there’s also a more complicated situation involving a person (child or adult) who may have already been baptized. If there is good evidence that the person has already been baptized, then the Church cannot “re-baptize” the person. You can only receive baptism once, even if it’s not a Catholic baptism: as long as water was being used (pouring or immersion) and the proper baptismal formula was used (“[name], I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), that person is baptized. The Church can offer a conditional baptism in the case of doubt or ambiguity, but again if it’s clear that the person was already baptized, then baptism can’t happen because it’s already happened.
In the end, the Church wants baptism for everyone, so it’s helpful to think of these cases as situations where the conditions make a true reception of the sacrament impossible. But if those conditions that impede baptism can be removed, then the Church cannot and will not say no!
Can my child be baptized if the father is not on birth certificate but is in the child life and wants to take part in baptism