A survey from our religious education department arrived in the mail today. I already had to fill out the catechist version of this a few weeks ago and now I have to fill out the parent version. There's a question on this survey that irritates me every time I see it pop up, and I honestly am now sure how I'm supposed to answer it without having to give an explanation. (I was relieved that it wasn't on the catechist survey.)
This is the question to which I am to answer yes or no: "I am a baptized Catholic." How exactly am I, a convert, to answer this question when there are no other questions regarding whether or not I am a Catholic? I was baptized in a Lutheran church and when I converted to the Catholic Church ten years ago, my Lutheran baptism was recognized by the Catholic Church as being valid.
Maybe I'm just hypersensitive to the comments I've received in the past that I'm not "a real Catholic" and this question just rubs me the wrong way, but I can't help but feel like I'm getting that same message from the parish when I see questions like this frequently pop up on stuff for the RE program. Yes, I'm Catholic (and a practicing one to boot) and no, I wasn't always.
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What the question should say is, "Are you a confirmed Catholic?" Perhaps you can answer by simply including the date of your confirmation. That should be certainly enough to satisfy the question. However, there are families who have parents who are not Catholic (my husband isn't), and it's best for the catechists to know this so they can get an idea of how much knowledge each child will have of the Faith (and parental support) upon entering the class.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is yes. I think the question is if you were baptized (in a valid way) and if you are Catholic. As long as both requirements are met, it doesn't matter how, the answer is still yes. My husband was baptized as a Baptist, but still considers himself a baptized Catholic because it doesn't so much matter where the baptism occurred as that it happened at all. Hope that makes sense. I was baptized as a Catholic, but that's because I was raised in a pagan household so never had the chance to be baptized before we officially joined the Catholic church in 2008. In either case though, as long as both conditions are met then I think the answer is yes no matter what the circumstances were.
ReplyDeleteBaptism is universally recognized (with the proper form and words), so the answer is YES! That is why you didn't have to be baptized again because it leaves an indellible mark on your soul, and God knew that you would come home to Him soon. ;) God bless you for being a great teacher!
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