Baptisms/Christenings

[CooperLooper]

I know this is just speculation for now, but does anybody have any educated guesses what might be the new announcements for christenings in July? I'm hearing rumours that weddings and large outdoor events might be allowed on 21st June. Wondered whether that might also apply for christenings.

For C of E baptisms the current rules are:

• For a baptism as part of communal worship the limits should be decided locally on the basis of the capacity of the place of worship, following a risk assessment in the same way as for public worship.

• If the baptism is not part of communal worship and undertaken privately then the Government guidance states a limit of 30 can attend.
• Individuals, households and support bubbles can attend worship but must not mingle with others outside of the people (up to 6) or 2 households they arrived with and physical distancing should be maintained.
• The candidate, their parent(s), godparent(s) and the minister are all that are required to be present for baptism and parents might wish to keep to this number. If they wish to have other family members or friends present, it is important to talk with them about the overall
restrictions on numbers.
• You may find that parents/candidates ask to postpone the baptism in light of the restrictions in numbers. This is a decision for them. However, you will want to think about how to follow up these individuals/families so that the baptism can be rearranged when it is appropriate to do so.

www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/COVID%2019%20advice%20for%20Clergy%20Conducting%20Baptisms%20v4.7_0.pdf

Thanks @BlackLambAndGreyFalcon

Sorry my fault for not being clear, I meant the function/gathering/party bit after a church ceremony....

Ah well then I guess that it would be like any other function/party/gathering: rule of 6 indoors and rule of 30 outdoors.

The difference with a wedding reception is that it usually has a venue on an exclusive hire basis and therefore is quite easy to verify (or "police") that it is actually a wedding reception, not so sure that a Baptismal after-party would be able to be easily identified as such and would be hard for venues to enforce.

It would just be like any other function as it's not like a 'wedding breakfast' or a Wake after a funeral as pp have said it's easier to police.

A gathering after a baptism is no different to the likes of birthday parties etc.

Baptisms are to welcome the child into the church and that's the celebration the after part is just the bonus.

I expect christening gatherings post the ceremony will be the same as any other party. Unless there are people travelling a long distance, do you really need such a party anyway?