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CHAPTER 3 BAPTISM OF INFANTS A. INTRODUCTION 3.1.1 The baptism of infants should be administered without delay and with appropriate catechesis for the parents and godparents.317 3.1.2 Baptism, by actual reception or at least by desire, is necessary for salvation, and is the gateway to the reception of the other sacraments. By baptism, original sin and one’s personal sins are forgiven; one is born again and becomes an adopted child of God. It confers an indelible character that conforms one to Christ, to share in his priestly, prophetic, and royal offices. By baptism one is incorporated in the Church, with rights and obligations, and is bonded more closely with other Christians.318 3.1.3 From the earliest days of the Church, the infant children of believers have been presented for baptism and recognized as called by God to share life in the Lord’s family. Saint Gregory Nazianzen said, “Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit.... Give your child the Trinity, that great and noble protector.”319 3.1.4 While infants bring no human achievements or works whatever to their encounter with God, they are nonetheless given a share in divine life. “The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant baptism.”320 3.1.5 It is the role of parents to provide the environment where a young disciple of Christ can grow. This will be most critical in the earliest years of life. This is where the Church needs parents to fulfill their role as evangelizers and Christian models—and where the Church needs to support parents in this 317 AS 150, cf. CDF, Instruction Pastoralis actio (1980), CIC can. 867 §1; RBC 8.3. See also ADW, Liturgical Norms and Policies, 2010, 3.4.3, 3.13.1, 3.13.9 and its note. 318 CIC can. 849; USCCA pp. 192-195. A funerary inscription near S. Sabina in Rome from about the year 300 reads, “Pray for your parents, Matronata Matrona. She lived one year, fifty-two days.” 319 CCC 1250, cf. Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism 17. Saint Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition 21:16: “Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.” 320 CCC 1250. great work. This formation in the family will naturally lead to readiness for Eucharistic participation when the child is a little older, and for confirmation. 3.1.6 Infant baptism has become a single act encapsulating the usual preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way, and so it requires a post- baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for instruction after baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth.321 B. OFFICES AND MINISTRIES Parish Community 3.2.1 Since the initiation of new members of God’s people is the responsibility of all the baptized, and given the right that children have to the love and help of the Christian community, parishes should offer welcome and both spiritual and practical support to families anticipating a birth and those with young children.322 Parish Ministers 3.3.1 Priests, with the assistance of deacons and specially prepared catechists, are to offer special care in regard to the baptism of children. In particular, they are to: a. help families, through personal visitation, prayer, and catechesis to prepare for baptism and to undertake the task of Christian formation that flows from it; 323 and b. arrange celebrations of the sacrament that are dignified, fully developed, and attentive to the needs of the families involved.324 321 CCC 1231. See also CCC 1248 (cf. AG 14; RCIA 19, 98): “The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. The catechumenate is to be a ‘formation in the whole Christian life ... during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites.” 322 See RCIA 9; RBC 4. 323 MI, grants, 6: “A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who teach or study Christian doctrine.” 324 RBC 7. Parents 3.4.1 It is the office of parents “to offer their offspring to the Church in order that by their most fruitful Mother of the children of God they may be regenerated through the laver of baptism unto supernatural justice and finally be made living members of Christ, partakers of immortal life, and heirs of that eternal glory to which all aspire from our inmost heart.”325 3.4.2 Since by God’s plan and purpose parents have a unique and sacred relationship with their children, they have the Christian obligation: a. to prepare to take part in the celebration of baptism with understanding, renewing their own profession of the Christian faith; b. to form their children in the faith and practice of the Christian life by word and example; and c. to sanctify their children through the Christian spirit of their marriage and family life.326 3.4.3 Parents are obliged to take care that infants are baptized in the first few weeks after birth.327 3.4.4 As soon as possible after the birth or even before it, the parents are to go to their pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared for it themselves.328 Godparents 3.5.1 Insofar as it is possible, an infant to be baptized is to be given a godparent.329 3.5.2 There is to be only one godfather, or one godmother, or one of each.330 325 Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Casti connubii (1931) 14. See also IALP 1: “Out of the baptismal font, the Lord Christ generates children, who bear the image of the Resurrected, to the Church. These, united to Christ in the Holy Spirit, are rendered fit to celebrate with Christ the sacred liturgy, spiritual worship.” 326 CIC cann. 835 §4, 774 §2, 951 §2; see RBC 5, for an extensive treatment. 327 CIC can. 867 §1; RBC 8.3. See also ADW, Liturgical Norms and Policies, 2010, 3.1.1, 3.13.1, 3.13.9 and its note. 328 CIC can. 867 §1. 329 CIC can. 872. The lack of a suitable godparent is not an impediment to baptism. 330 CIC can. 873. 3.5.3 The godparent, together with the parents, presents the infant for baptism. A godparent also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.331 3.5.4 A godparent has the responsibility: a. to present the infant for baptism along with the parents;332 b. to represent the community of faith in which the baptism is celebrated;333 c. to renew his or her own profession of the Christian faith;334 d. to assist the parents in their Christian responsibilities;335 and e. to help the newly baptized, by word and example, to lead a Christian life and fulfill the obligations of baptism.336 3.5.5 Through pastoral dialogue and catechesis, a godparent is to be prepared both as a companion in faith for the one to be baptized and as a support for the parents in their Christian responsibilities. He or she should be invited to participate in the opportunities for spiritual and catechetical formation offered to parents of the child to be baptized.337 3.5.6 To be permitted to take on the function of godparent a person must a. be designated by the parents of the infant to be baptized, or the person who takes their place, or, in their absence, by the pastor or minister of the sacrament, and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;338 331 CIC can. 872. 332 CIC can. 872. 333 ED 98: “It is the Catholic understanding that godparents, in a liturgical and canonical sense, should themselves be members of the Church or ecclesial community in which the baptism is being celebrated. They do not merely undertake a responsibility for the Christian education of the person being baptized (or confirmed) as a relation or friend; they are also there as representatives of a community of faith, standing as guarantees of the candidate’s faith and desire for ecclesial communion.” 334 RBC 56-59. 335 RBC 40. 336 CIC cann. 774 §2, 872; RCIA, General Introduction, 8. 337 CIC can. 851 §2; RCIA, General Introduction, 8, 13; cf. RBC 40. See also ADW, Liturgical Norms and Policies, 2010, 3.8.1-11. 338 CIC can. 874 §1 1o. b. have completed the sixteenth year of age, or the pastor or minister of the sacrament has granted an exception for a just cause;339 c. be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;340 d. not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;341 e. not be the father or mother of the infant to be baptized.342 3.5.7 A member of an Eastern rite of the Catholic Church may serve as a godparent for baptism in the Latin rite.
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