Would you baptize your child to make the grandparents happy?

[delilah]

I agree that it would be hypocritical to only show up at church for the highlights. I am Catholic, and also, as a matter of fact, a Eucharistic minister, and in order to get the "Catholic discount" at my parish school, there are other obligations, too, that my husband and I need to meet in order to qualify, the least of which is to show up at Mass on Sunday. I don't see myself as a "holy roller".

Now, other family members and my acquaintences live a lifestyle that I would label as more "hypocritical", but, I guess the protestant churches don't consider it a reason for eternal damnation not to attend services on a regular basis. For example, my husband's nephew is "Baptist", and he attended "Christian" school. His parents are Lutheran, by the way, but, he refused to be confirmed Lutheran due to the influence of the "Christian" school. Apparently Lutheran isn't good enough. He got married at a "Baptist" church by a "Baptist" minister, who, by the way, was the windiest preacher I have ever heard. Now, nephew and his wife don't attend any church on a regular basis. But, I guess that is OK.

A coworker's wife, who also works in my office asked me about two years ago what one wears to church on Easter She and coworker are "Presbyterian". So, I guess that regular church attendence is not part of the expectations for the Presbyterian church either. I know my coworker wouldn't go, though. It would interfere with golf rounds on Sunday morning.

Generally, though, the people at my parish are pretty boring. The same people attend the same Mass week in and week out. I know everybody by face, if not by name. We even tend to sit in the same pew everyweek. I even recognize their visitors, who come at Thankgiving and Christmas. Our Easter and Christmas Masses are not overcrowded by people who do not attend Mass regularly. As for myself, if I am out of town for the weekend, I know where the Catholic church is wherever I am staying, and when Mass is, whether at Disneyworld or my brother's house, or Cincinnati, or downtown Chicago.

 

[emma'smom]

I think you should do whatever you feel is right. It seems that you feel like it is a "lie" to get your daughter baptized since you aren't planning on following through with attending church. You should explain that to your parents. Hopefully they would understand your point of view and respect your wishes. Your daughter can always get baptized when she is older.

Now, my dad is a minister and he told my brother that he WOULD NOT baptize his grandsons (DB children) just "to do it" and he could have easily done it in a private ceremony or at his church. However, his point was that unless DB and DSIL plan to raise their children in a church (and they don't), than there really wasn't a point. So, he told them to come back for the baptisms if they ever chose to become actively involved in a congregation and to include church as part of their children's upbringing.

Note-When I say "come back" it only refers to the issue of baptizing the grandchildren. Everyone gets along on other issues- it isn't like a big devisive family issue...DB and DSIL just don't attend church, so baptisms seemed silly.

Also interesting, when I wanted to have him baptize my first dd at a little church in the mountains (not my home church), we had to write a letter to the minister of that church and "justify" why I was having it there. My reason was that we were in the process of moving from one city to another and our "home church" would be changing- but the little church in the mountains was a place we attended regularly every summer and it WAS a church that we planned to bring our dd's to on a regular (but limited because of summers only) basis as they grew up.

Dd2 was baptized in our new home church (Presbyterian) by DGF with the assistance of our regular pastor.

 

[playwright]

Not only would I, but I DID!!! I am very against Christianity, not people who believe in Christ or follow his teachings, but Christianity as an excuse/religion. My in-laws are very, very strict Catholic. When my DD was two I made the decision to have her baptised at a family reunion, during a church service. This was totally for my in-laws. I don't believe something bad will happen to my DD because she was baptised Catholic and they very strongly believe that it's necessary. I did have to get special permission from the family priest, he was very kind and listened to my reasoning and signed all the papers. I made it very clear that I would not be converting or taking any kind of classes - this was only for my in-laws. I don't believe my DD will go to hell because she was baptised and my in-laws firmly believe that she would go to hell if she wasn't. In other words, it doesn't hurt my DD or me, it only makes them feel better? They are wonderful people, they truly walk the walk, why not give them that gift?

Edited to add: Re: the baptism ceremony. It was the first time I ever saw a Catholic baptism. It was like something straight out of "Rosemary's Baby". Still gives me the creeps. It took every effort for me not to chase the priest down and take my baby back when he was walking up and down the aisles with her raised above his head. Freakish! I don't know if every baptism is like that but HOLY COW!! Sorry to all you Catholics, but it was very foreign to me and I was raised Lutheran!

Kathy gave me an infraction for saying that I found some of your comments about Catholic Baptism to be anti-Catholic.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

I am a preachers kid, and I don't wish to inflict my beliefs on others as to how they should live their lives. That being said, Baptism is a very serious committment, whether it be made by adults for a child/infant or someone who has committed their heart to Jesus. I also see it as a very serious religious committment that should never be taken lightly. Do what you wish, but please be reminded that there are people in the congregation who take those committments seriously and to stand up and make committments in church that you don't intend to keep is going to be viewed as a slap in the face of their beliefs.

 

[va32h]

Kathy gave me an infraction for saying that I found some of your comments about Catholic Baptism to be anti-Catholic.

Okay.

Well, thanks for sharing!