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Christening Outdoors

  • 11-02-2017 05:17AM
    #1
    SeanPuddin_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 98 ✭✭


    Just wondering if it's possible to perform a Christening outside of a church? More specifically on a boat on a lake. Thanks.


Comments

  • #2
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,278 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    It's possible, certainly. As in, a baptism performed on a boat is as sacramentally valid as a baptism performed anywhere else.

    But must Christian denomionations will have customs or rules about how baptism ought to be celebrated. In the Catholic church, for example, "apart from a case of necessity, the proper place for baptism is a church or an oratory". And, as a rule, this should generally be the parish church of the person being baptised (or of their parents, in the case of an infant) unless there is a good reason for celebrating the sacrament in another church.

    Other denominations will have their own rules, customs and practices, which may differ. Some Christian traditions favour baptism by full immersion, often in a river or lake.


  • #3
    Nick Park
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,573 ✭✭✭Nick Park


    SeanPuddin_ wrote: »
    Just wondering if it's possible to perform a Christening outside of a church? More specifically on a boat on a lake. Thanks.

    If the priest drops the baby then there could be complications.


  • #4
    keano_afc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,711 ✭✭✭keano_afc


    I was baptised in a lake*




    *I was 21 and I'm not Catholic though


  • #5
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    keano_afc wrote: »
    I was baptised in a lake*




    *I was 21 and I'm not Catholic though
    I was baptized in the sea and was a bit younger!


  • #6
    martinedwards
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,045 ✭✭✭martinedwards


    Also, unlike Holy Communion (certainly in the Protestant denominations) baptism can be done by anyone.

    midwives often do "emergency" baptisms where a baby is unlikely to survive until a priest can get there.

    so long as it is reported and recorded in a local church, it counts in that denominations records.

    (This was covered by my Church of Ireland Lay reader training)


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  • #7
    Galway_Old_Man
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 249 ✭✭Galway_Old_Man


    Yeah, same in Catholicism. Anyone can perform a baptism but it's unusual and only in cases where someone's life is in danger or places where the religion is being persecuted and there are no priests.


  • #8
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,992 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Nick Park wrote: »
    If the priest drops the baby then there could be complications.
    I'd advise OP to lean out the other side of the boat just as the priest makes his move to dip the baby.

    And maybe not go too far out into the lake...just in case.


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