Can I baptise my child both Catholic and C of E?

[PixieCake]

I am Catholic and my husband is C of E.
We go to both churches so that our children will know both.
Does anyone know if we can baptise our child twice, once in each church so that she is both C of E and Catholic?

I am sure if he chose to be confirmed in an anglican church they would accept his catholic baptism but I don't think it would work the other way round.

I know several people who converted to Catholicism from Protestant denominations who did not have to be re-baptized. This was in the US, but I thought that was general practice.

"Any school insisting on baptism in a catholic church, regardless of where the child currently attends is probably going against one of the key beliefs of the church."

That's why you need a ballsy PP. If a VA school (own admissions authority), then they may need to rule on what counts as valid baptism. It would be hard to win a position that is more hard line than that of the RC church. But you would (probably) need to demonstrate that you/DC are observant RC (most effective way, attendance).

I was christened in a Catholic Church but attended and was confirmed CofE.

I doubt this is ok the other way round.

I think it happens where the schools have become extremely oversubscribed with parents gaming the system. Ours is oversubscribed but not with catholic children so it's a bit more woolly, with something about baptised, catholic children with a letter from the pp. Which pretty much leaves it up to the pp to decide what the church considers as baptised. The other two criteria refer to unbaptised catholic children and even then it usually admits below that to other churches together churches or other faiths.

I can see how if you have 100+ baptised catholic applicants for 30 places you could end up tightening the criteria with very little consideration to the teachings of the church is a lot of longstanding church members can't get their children into the school.

Baptism as a condition of eligibility is pretty common for RC schools but IME much less common for C of E ones so if you're playing the odds, Catholic the one to go for.

I think it would make sense to baptise her as catholic and then have a service of thanks giving at the c of e church. Generally church of england school admissions are more fussed about church attendence than baptism. I believe that catholic schools are more fussed about catholic baptism before a year old.

Just as an aside the word "catholic" is more general than "Catholic" with a captial C.

If you are not worried about schools then you could have an honest chat with the priests.

It depends on where you live Really. As much as I've seen plenty of schools that do insist on baptism by a certain age, they tend to be the exception rather than the rule IME. I'd guess it's more common in London and perhaps one or two other areas than in most of the rest of the country.

In my area Church of England schools require church attendence rather than baptism. The church of England is very diverse and some churches within the church of england prefer dedication to baptism. Over subscribed church of england schools near me insist on church attendence once a month for about three years before application. Baptism is often taken with a pinch of salt as its known that many people only baptise for an excuse to have a party.

I think that if a church of england school insisted on baptism by a certain age, then a practicing church of england family who had chosento dedicate their children would stand a good chance of winning on appeal.

I think our c of e has an equally woolly criteria about member of a c of e church or possibly attendance but without defining what regular attendance actually is. I think the fact that most of the schools round here have similar Ofsted ratings means there isn't a huge rush for places in the church schools. The 'school of choice' here is a community primary, so it's all about living in the right catchment, rather than where you go to church.

"Any school insisting on baptism in a catholic church, regardless of where the child currently attends is probably going against one of the key beliefs of the church."

Not at all, baptism in the Catholic church is one of the most key beliefs there is, if you haven't had a baptism, you simply are not a Catholic. If you are not baptised Catholic, why would you have any eligibility for a Catholic school, other than under an Other Faiths clause?

Yes, it is a key belief, but as the credo says the church acknowledges one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. A three year old who was baptised in a Cof E church and is attending mass weekly with parents who may have gone through RCIA is no less catholic in the eyes of the church than one baptised in a non catholic church and attending weekly.

You are right, it is a key belief, not one that can be changed on a whim by school admission policies, which are a totally different ball game. Admission policies that state baptism must be in a catholic church by a certain age are doing nothing more than prioritising some catholic children and not others.

A child baptised in the church of england is not a Catholic as in RC.

A three year old who was baptised in a Cof E church and is attending mass weekly with parents who may have gone through RCIA is no less catholic in the eyes of the church than one baptised in a non catholic church and attending weekly.

Which church? A 3 yr old baptised in c of e and attending c of e weekly with their parents is definitely less Catholic than a child baptised in a Catholic church and attending Catholic church weekly. Because they aren't in fact Catholic at all. They are catholic with a small c, and a lot of Anglicans might agree with you, however Roman Catholics would not.

A child baptised in a c of e church and attending a RC church weekly.

I agree a child baptised in a c of e church attending a c of e church weekly is definitely not Catholic. But I don't think that was what we were talking about. I think we've got our wires crossed somewhere.

In my experience Roman catholics are quite a varied lot. i am sure that they would regard a three year old who attends regularly as part of their church family. School admissions is something on its own. Your hypothetical three year old would have to get a reference from an RC priest as a c of e priest would not know the child.

But schools generally require a baptismal cert as basic proof of being a Catholic. This has always been the case, because if you don't have one, you are not considered to be Catholic. It doesn't matter if you go to church weekly, you aren't a member of the church without the baptism.

That's true, they're fans of the paperwork.

A baptismal cert yes. But the hypothetical 3 year old has one, which brings us back to the point I made, that you picked up on that some schools have a different definition of baptised catholic children than the church itself. Which is odd but perhaps understandable given the admissions issues some schools have.

The parents of the hypothetical three year old could discuss the matter with the priest. I am sure that a decent Catholic priest could find a away round the fact that a child has been baptised c of e if the child is a regular attended of a RC church.

Are you really telling me that a c of e baptised baby cannot be considered a member of an RC church until they are old enough to take first communion?

Our local RC primary wants proof of baptism rather than a baptism certicates. They are happy to accept a letter from a c of e priest in Leiu of a certicate. Not all Catholic schools are stupidly over subscribed. Incidentally dd is still at the local community school.

Are you really telling me that a c of e baptised baby cannot be considered a member of an RC church until they are old enough to take first communion?

No, they cannot be considered a member of an RC church until they have been baptised in the RC church. It wouldn't really matter if they had been baptised somewhere else first, since the RC baptism would supercede any other.
They couldn't take their first communion in an RC church without first having had an RC baptism. It really is as simple as this, you are not a member of the RC church unless you have been baptised in an RC church.

Or, more accurately and precisely by an RC priest into the Church, to be precise, as the actual baptism can be outside the church itself, such as in a hospital etc.

This takes hypocritical exploitation of school admissions criteria to a whole new level! Yuck.

No, I'm saying in the eyes of the church they are RC. Being baptised and attending mass would be all that's expected of any child below the age of reason. Doesn't matter where you were baptised since the church treats all trinitarian baptism as equal. Once they reach the age of reason (about 7) then the child themselves has to convert.

Our RC is not ridiculously oversubscribed and fairly lax on the definition of catholic. In practice all you need is a letter from the priest and that's about it. Doesn't really matter where you were baptised or even if you were baptised at all. In that case you could just talk to the priest. The issue is the very very small minority of schools that would insist on that baptism being in a catholic church before a certain age. Which is making a distinction between children that the church doesn't make.

I thought Shan was say saying that that baptism had to be a catholic baptism, when she said 'if you are not baptised catholic'. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I might have misunderstood what she meant, and she did mean a child attending a catholic church who has been baptised somewhere, rather than a child who has been baptised in a catholic church.

It really is as simple as this, you are not a member of the RC church unless you have been baptised in an RC church.

My brother and sister-in-law converted to Roman Catholicism as adults. They had been baptized as children in a Protestant church. They did not have to be re-baptized in the Catholic Church.

A baptism does have to be RC to make a person a member of the RC church. Otherwise they are welcomed as a christian but they are not Catholic (big C).
I know some parishes/priests are lax about rules because otherwise their churches would be empty; better someone there than no-one. But the fact of the matter remains, Catholicism is a club, and if you haven't officially joined, you are not a member.

Schools are different, they can have whatever rules they like. But the church rules are clear, if you didn't have RC baptism, you are not a member of the Church.

My brother and sister-in-law converted to Roman Catholicism as adults. They had been baptized as children in a Protestant church. They did not have to be re-baptized in the Catholic Church

Then how did they convert? PArt of conversion IS baptism.