Advice re baptism Please read .very wrong

cathy01

my local church are refusing to baptise my friends child.
She is orthodox her husband is Christian but from Nigeria and no Baptism cert is available .
Her eldest got baptised no problem at all 11 years ago in Waterford now they are asking from a letter from my friends church back in the Ukraine to give permission for her to get the baby baptised .she hasn't lived in the Ukraine in 15 years.
Is this normal .i am standing as godmother and have said I will bring the child up in catholic faith?
Any ideas guys why this is happening .
I hope to meet with the prist tomorrow .
Thanks cathy

LordSutch

cathy01 wrote: »

my local church are refusing to baptise my friends child.
She is orthodox her husband is Christian but from Nigeria and no Baptism cert is available .
Her eldest got baptised no problem at all 11 years ago in Waterford now they are asking from a letter from my friends church back in the Ukraine to give permission for her to get the baby baptised .she hasn't lived in the Ukraine in 15 years.
Is this normal .i am standing as godmother and have said I will bring the child up in catholic faith?
Any ideas guys why this is happening .
I hope to meet with the prist tomorrow .
Thanks cathy

Orthodox what?

I have no idea about bringing the child up as a Roman Catholic, but you could certainly approach your local C of I Church Rector/Vicar and enquire there. Usually the Rector will be only too willing to talk and help if they can. So of it's a Christian Baptism you want, then that's what you'll receive in the C of I (depending on the background) of this particular case.

Other posters will have to answer for other denominations of the Christian faith.

Good luck and all the best.

looksee

I have an idea it is to do with church politics and schisms, though I don't actually know. I thought anyone could baptize a child and it was done sooner rather than later if, for example, there was any danger to the child's life, because it was so important. Withholding baptism for political reasons seems a bit off.

cathy01

LordSutch wrote: »

Orthodox what?

I have no idea about bringing the child up as a Roman Catholic, but you could certainly approach your local C of I Church Rector/Vicar and enquire there. Usually the Rector will be only too willing to talk and help if they can. So of it's a Christian Baptism you want, then that's what you'll receive in the C of I (depending on the background) of this particular case.

Other posters will have to answer for other denominations of the Christian faith.

Good luck and all the best.

Jew I think I'm. It sure .

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Could be Russian orthodox. Don't think there's a large Jewish community in the Ukraine.

The J Stands for Jay

cathy01 wrote: »

Jew I think I'm. It sure .

I would've thought in Ukraine I'd be eastern orthodox Christian

martinedwards

Are they members (or at least attendees) of the church in question?

Many churches of all sorts of denomination won't baptise walk ins.

join up, show that you actually believe the vows you're making and they'll likely be a bit more sympathetic

Peregrinus

cathy01 wrote: »

my local church are refusing to baptise my friends child.
She is orthodox her husband is Christian but from Nigeria and no Baptism cert is available .
Her eldest got baptised no problem at all 11 years ago in Waterford now they are asking from a letter from my friends church back in the Ukraine to give permission for her to get the baby baptised .she hasn't lived in the Ukraine in 15 years.
Is this normal .i am standing as godmother and have said I will bring the child up in catholic faith?
Any ideas guys why this is happening .
I hope to meet with the prist tomorrow .
Thanks cathy

In general the Catholic church won't baptise an infant unless there's a well-founded hope that the child will be raised in the Catholic faith. No offence, but the undertaking of a godparent to do this is not really sufficient if the parents don't intend to do it.

Your friend is not Catholic. You say that her husband is "Christian", but you don't say if he's a Catholic or not. It would be unusual for the child of two non-Catholics, who had no intention of becoming Catholics themselves, to be baptised in the Catholic church.

I'm interested that the church is asking for a letter from your friend's church in the Ukraine. Reading between the lines, your friend is a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian but can't have her child baptised in that church because they have no church in Ireland. Therefore she approaches the Catholic church, asking for baptism, intended to raise the child in her own (Orthodox) tradition of Christianity.

The Catholic church may be willing to accommodate her, provided the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is happy to accept baptism in the Catholic church as a "gateway" to Orthodox Christianity. (I don't know, but I thinkd different Orthodox churches take different positions on this.) Hence the request for a letter.

Other options might be for your friend to approach one of the Orthodox churches in Ireland. SFAIK there is no Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but there are Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, and possibly one or two others.

Peregrinus

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Could be Russian orthodox. Don't think there's a large Jewish community in the Ukraine.

Tiny. About 0.2% of the population.

(It was about 30% of the population just before World War II. :eek:)

cathy01

I don't know
For me it makes no sence.
His brother was baptised no problem .
Imagine how it is
Hi my
Dads Christian
My mam orthodox
My brother Catholic
But me well I'm "paperwork"

Mrs OBumble

Peregrinus wrote: »

The Catholic church may be willing to accommodate her, provided the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is happy to accept baptism in the Catholic church as a "gateway" to Orthodox Christianity. (I don't know, but I thinkd different Orthodox churches take different positions on this.) Hence the request for a letter.

Other options might be for your friend to approach one of the Orthodox churches in Ireland. SFAIK there is no Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but there are Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, and possibly one or two others.

I think this is likely it.

Internationally there is a fairly respectful relationship between the Orthodox and Catholic churches - for example in the country where I come from, Orthodox children are admitted to Catholic schools as if they were Catholic. (This is a bigger thing than it will seem to readers here: there the government imposes a cap on the % of non-Catholic children allowed to attend Catholic schools, so getting permission to count a non-Catholic as Catholic required a fair bit of proving the nature of Catholic/Orthodox).

Ireland hasn't been so strong on this relationship in the past, but might be getting better, hence wanting agreement before baptising someone who should belong to another church: really, the children should be being baptised into either the Orthodox church, or into whichever Christian church the father is a member of.

There's a Romanian Orthodox congregation in Galway, fyi. Probably no help, but you never know.