Thursday, July 1, 2010

A nagging doubt

Have you ever read something and then found yourself trying to remember the details of a situation from years ago?  A few weeks ago I was reading Fr. Z's blog (A task that I think probably qualifies as a part time job for anyone who has the time to read everything he writes.) where he was asked by a reader about whether or not a particular baptism was licit or not.  Because Madeline was baptized by a deacon during Mass it got me wondering if Madeline's baptism was in fact licit.  I couldn't remember the specifics of her baptism aside from the fact that I held my sleeping child the entire time with the exception of when Fr. Francis hoisted her up high and walked up and down the center aisle while everyone applauded, and after Mass he had placed her on the altar where she became the first baby to fart on the altar in all his years of placing the newly baptized babies on the altar [and it was LOUD].

She was baptized during Mass nine years ago.  I recalled that the deacon did the baptism, but I recalled that Fr. Francis was certainly active in the process.  So I did what any self respecting worry wort would do.  I started to worry about the validity of her baptism (Yes, I'm that crazy.).  For over a week I meant to dig up her baptism video and see if I could put my mind at ease, but then I kept getting distracted. Today I finally got around to watching the video and can now rest easy.  Her baptism wasn't anything like the illicit one described on Fr. Z's blog.  What a relief.  I was beginning to worry that I'd look like a nut if I had to go to the parish office and explain that I thought my child was not licitly baptized.

5 comments:

  1. Karen- What post were you reading on Fr. Z's blog? The link you provided in the post was to his main blog page and frankly I'm to lazy to dig around on his blog for it.

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  2. I'm lazy, too. :) Trying to find something on Fr. Z's blog is like looking for your band aid that fell off in the ocean. I'll have to see if I can dig it up later on. I think I was two weeks ago that I read about it. When I find it I'll update the link on the blog and I'll email it to you.

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  3. It's updated now. Between searching on the Google Machine and Catholic Answers Forum I was able to dig it up.

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  4. Thanks Karen! That was a very interesting read!

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  5. In sync with your title, I have a nagging fear...I believe there is a difference between licit and valid; as in the baptism was not done exactly as prescribed=licit but would still be considered valid for reception of future sacraments.

    Must investigate...glad your concerns are relieved.

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