Priest is taking a very long time

[Whatinthedoopla]

I moved recently, and started going to a local catholic church. On the first day we attended, I mentioned my child needed baptism, and he was optimistic about it, saying that he will get us a form, etc etc. It has now been 3 months, every time we go we mention it, but he keeps giving an excuse, for example saying that it is the form he needs to print out, he has lost the dates we gave him, we will hear from the secretary.

I really don't understand if this is normal.

I would estimate more like £500 for a donation. It's voluntary though, you're not obliged to give anything.

Is there a parish office? We had more luck getting in contact there then with the priest directly. Or associated baby/toddler groups, any parish gatherings to integrate yourself with the church at all?

My eldest was baptised at around 1 year old, we started classes around 6 months after starting attending. Churches will differ in requirements though.

I think we donated approx £100 per baptism.

Catholic Priests are over worked these days. There's not much in the way of newly ordained priests joining the ranks and a lot of the remaining priests are elderly. Those of working age are spread pretty thin. He might just have too much on his plate.

If they stick with the policy of priests having to be single men, they're going to phase themselves out.

@ByUmberViewer 500? What new parent has that sort of money 🤣 and I’m a Catholic btw.

We gave £100 about 15 years ago, and the priest was very pleased!

I agree, I think £500 is excessive.
I think we gave about £100 each time

Our priest recommends the amount you’d spend on a family meal out. As I recall we did £100 5 years ago.

Our two DC were baptised quite late in Catholic Church terms, they were both 9 months old. For the eldest, BIL was getting married and with their agreement we had the baptism the day after as lots of family were over from another country so could attend both the same weekend.

Second DC fell in the awkward period when we were changing priests, the outgoing priest said he was happy to do it, but would be doing 5 candidates at a time to get through them. We waited for the new priest in the end and it was just us.

*We were going to a different church before he was born, but obviously the priest doesn't know that.

I guess I will just have to continue going to church until he feels satisfied and convinced I am actually catholic?

Also, what is the normal donation for a baptism?*

Would your previous parish priest write you a reference, or even baptise baby?

£500 is ridiculous! When we asked our priest what we should donate for our wedding he suggested an hours salary. There’s a lot less work for a baptism so I’m sure an hours salary would still be acceptable. I must say that our wedding was many years ago and our youngest child’s baptism was nearly 21 years ago so the money we donated was more than an hours salary.

Sunday Mass is not the best time to speak to a priest, who will have a hundred different things on his mind to do with the service, lots of people firing questions all at once and no way to process it all or make notes. Try calling or sending an email sometime during the week.

More than one of those months has been Lent and Easter.

Or could you go 'home' to a church you attended growing up, or the church you were married in?

Email the priest and request the forms like that to fill in?

I'd say £30 to £50 donation. I did £20 10 years ago and then £30 for a more recent FHC as we'd been on holiday and missed the main school one.

Just keep going and persist in asking. He's probably just busy and disorganised like my priest.

This. Phone the parish office sometime during the week.

IME trying to catch the priest after mass when they are busy is often futile.

£500 for a donation is too much unless you are particularly well off. What you give is dependent on what you can afford. £30-50 sounds about right.

Probably thinks as soon as you get what you want, you will stop attending.

@mommybear1 were you??

Theres no way I could go through it all & pretend, to get into a school I'd rather home school if the other schools were that bad!

@Whatinthedoopla

Given you said you NEED your DS bBaotused basically the first time you met him, are you really surprised it sounds functional not religious.

Do you want it done for a school admission??

Given you said you NEED your DS bBaotused basically the first time you met him, are you really surprised it sounds functional not religious.

@Pinkpinkpink15

Baptism is a necessity in Catholicism.

@Pinkpinkpink15 no we attended our parents churches but had moved and renovated a property in the parish. As our priest had no knowledge of us or our families he wanted to see our commitment he was quite astonished when our family attended for the baptism 150 plus staunch Irish old school catholics - he actually told us it was the largest attended baptism he'd conducted 😂😂.

@wutheringkites

yes but it's not how you usually go about it

@mommybear1

😂😂😂😂

I would love to have seen his face & read his thoughts...

'ahhh possibly for school then 😵‍💫😵‍💫'