Civil Ceremony and Christenings

Dortilolma

Odd question, I know, but can you christen your children if you don't get married in a church (and one parent is not catholic and has never been baptised)?

Victor

I would think yes.

Moonbeam

Yes, anyone can get their kids christened.

tatli_lokma

I would think that the catholic church would be only too happy to add to their list of followers. Its all about the numbers!

But I do find myself asking, in that situation, why would you choose to baptise??

Sleepy

The Catholic Church will baptise the children of unmarried parents so I don't see why they'd balk at claiming a child raised by atheist parents as one of their own.

Don't give in to pressure to baptise a child for a place in a school. It's not necessary and doing so just prolongs the organisations stranglehold over our education system.

Peregrinus

They won't baptise a child unless there's at least a "reasonable hope" that the child will be raised in the Catholic faith. They can be pretty flexible about that - some priests might see a hope in situations that you and I would think were pretty hopeless - but it does depend on the priest, and they'll all draw the line somewhere. If neither parent has been baptised, and they don't intend to be baptised, it's unlikely that the child will be. If one parent has been baptised you have a much better chance, especially if there are members of the extended family - grandparents, typically - who are in the child's life, and who are practising. But, these days, expect the priest to ask the baptised parent if they are practising and, if not, why they want their child baptised, and to ask the unbaptised parent how they feel about their child being raised as a Catholic, etc.

neemish

Peregrinus wrote: »

They won't baptise a child unless there's at least a "reasonable hope" that the child will be raised in the Catholic faith. They can be pretty flexible about that - some priests might see a hope in situations that you and I would think were pretty hopeless - but it does depend on the priest, and they'll all draw the line somewhere. If neither parent has been baptised, and they don't intend to be baptised, it's unlikely that the child will be. If one parent has been baptised you have a much better chance, especially if there are members of the extended family - grandparents, typically - who are in the child's life, and who are practising. But, these days, expect the priest to ask the baptised parent if they are practising and, if not, why they want their child baptised, and to ask the unbaptised parent how they feel about their child being raised as a Catholic, etc.

In addition, Canon Law requires that at least one parent is a Baptised Catholic so be prepared to show your own Bapt Cert if asked.

Be aware thst while in Ireland, the Church hs little problem if parents are married civilly, it may cause a problem in other countries particularly in Eastern Europe. In those countries, the Church will, in effect, exclude people who are not married in a religious ceremony.

Dortilolma

Thanks folks, I figured it should be grand for the most part but I thought I'd check.