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?

Both only recognise one baptism, but I don't see a reason you can't have both sets of clergy in one church.

I know of one RC marrying a Methodist, the Methodist's father was the minister conducting the wedding but there was an RC priest there too.

ShanVanVocht

You are wrong. Not only does the baptism not need to be performed by an RC priest, it can be done by anyone.

Sashh ideally a priest would perform an RC baptism. A lay person may act but only in danger of death.

Shan They had attended the church for some time; they then had instruction from the parish priest, then they were received into the church and confirmed at a regular Sunday service where they took communion for the first time in the church (as I recall). They were not baptized again.

*priest or deacon

No it doesn't. The RC church recognises all trinitarian baptism with water as valid. It's not about some churches being lapse. It'set out in the Nicene creed and Canon Law. Baptism cannot be repeated. If you do it isn't a sacrament because nothing happens. The only time you might baptise some one who has already been baptised is if it wasn't a trinitarian baptism or if there is doubt whether a person has been baptised, in which case a conditional baptism is given.

Shan RC priest will not re baptise someone if they have had a c of e baptism as you can only be baptised once.

Shan if you are baptized "In the name of the Father, and the Son and The Holy Spirit" with water then you have a trinitarian baptism which is recognized as a valid baptism in the Catholic church. The Catholic church does not "re-baptise" people. If you were baptized in the Mormon faith or Jehovah Witnesses they do not believe in a Trinitarian faith and so any "baptism" they performed would not be consider Christian (Trinitarian) by the Catholic church. If you were a Mormon who became Catholic you would be baptised because any so-called baptism would not be considered valid because Mormons do not believe in Christianity as Catholics and Protestants.

Any Christian baptism would be considered valid but to actually become Catholic as mentioned above to receive further sacraments such as First Holy Communion and Confirmation the PP would need a commitment which is done after the age of reason (after 7).

Theologically you should only be baptised once - "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". Whether you do it RC or C of E is up to you - RC tend to be stricter about recognising other denominations sacraments as valid, so so it RC if you really are that flexible.

I've been done twice, once as a baby, once as an adult as a sop to my husband's strict Baptist church who wouldn't recognise my infant baptism. It was meaningful at the time; now I wonder why I did it.

I find it difficult to believe that you could be a regular church attender (let alone believer) and ask some of these questions.

I can see why the OP feels conflicted concerning this issue.

Yes, theologically, you only need to be Baptised once. However, sadly, separate denominations of Christian Church do not appear to consistently recognise the authority of each other's church - which can cause problems if you want to worship within a variety of different church denominations or bring your child up to know a variety of Christian denominations.

Church divisions and the problems it causes has been going on right from the beginnings of the church. Yet the Bible shows how church unity between all the body of Christ is important:

Galatians 3:27-29 New International Version (NIV)
"27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

1 Corinthians 1:9-11 New International Version (NIV)
"9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Church Divided Over Leaders
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you."

I don't have any specific advice, only that the divisions are not where you find God, as unity is what the church should be aiming for. Ultimately is is your child who will be acting according to their own beliefs and what they are comfortable with.

"I can see why the OP feels conflicted concerning this issue."

So can I. It's so hard to know in advance which will be the "best" school, isn't it?

Hak

It does not surprise me that people want the best for their children when they love them. This will inevitably involve spiritual beliefs, political beliefs and education - essentially what we hope will be a good introduction to all areas of life for our children. There are some very difficult decisions to make, as a parent and there is no 'one size fits all' that is the best way to parent all children.

I am a Christian who attends a CofE church and I am disappointed that the CofE allows the school entry system to continue.

I contribute to my local church which in turn pays into the fund to support our local CofE school, I don't in any way begrudge the payment, the church has a proud history of supporting education, I do begrudge the gatekeeping and keeping of places for 'our own'.

If anything I feel it should be the other way around, people with no faith or a different faith should not be made to attend a school with a Christian tradition if they do not wish to.

It does no harm to my faith, my children's upbringing or their own possible faith choices later if they attend a community school, there is nothing about the Christian faith that requires us to have segregated education - quite the opposite.

I hate that people are feeling they need to be deceitful in order to access an education they feel will give their children the greatest opportunities.

Sorry, this is slightly off topic but related to the OP.

Wow I just stumbled on this thread while looking to arrange my son's RC baptism - there are so many people who commented here that are either guessing (incorrectly) or wrong! I'm just commenting in case anyone else comes across it.

I was baptised in the Church of Scotland (i.e. Presbyterian) and converted to Catholicism in 2007 at Uni when I was 21. The act of conversion is called 'Reception into the Church'. My baptism was recognised by the Catholic Church (I just provided my baptismal certificate), and I was 'Received', took my first Holy Communion and was Confirmed by the Bishop all in the one service.

www.iceverett.org/how-become-catholic

My now husband was baptised a Catholic but his family didn't practice; he was confirmed and received first holy communion at the same service, and a third person was also confirmed.

There is a separate form of liturgy called conditional baptism, used where there is doubt about whether the person has been baptised (validly, or at all): someone referred to that higher up on the thread; this wasn't just some wording their priest made up for the occasion, it's official liturgy for that situation: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_baptism

In the main, any baptism made in the usual form (eg in the name of the trinity) will be accepted within the denominations who use that form (Catholic, C of E, C of S etc), unless an error was made. Interestingly the Catholic Church found recently that one of their own priests had done invalid baptisms for about 30yrs because he got a word wrong:
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60409113.amp

So everyone commenting above who said 'I doubt it works the other way round' etc is making an incorrect presumption when it comes to the main denominations.

I know a few mixed denomination couples who go to both services every Sunday. The couple I know best have chosen that their children be Catholic, so the dad and children take communion at my church, then they go to a CofE service where the mum takes communion. You can attend any services you like, but if you want to take communion you really do have to decide which church you want to take it in.

I really recommend Roderick Strange's The Catholic Faith for anyone unsure of these issues. I read it when I was converting: it's very simple and easy to read.

@PixieCake

Thanks for these replies.

I don't really understand why this might be a problem. If we are welcome to worship at both churches (which we are) and receive communion at both (which we do) then why can't my child be officially received into both churches?

Is this a question of it being unethical for some reason, or is it more about the difference in beliefs?

Don't some people have 2 religions?

And yes it would be useful if my daughter could have the right paperwork for either a C of E or a catholic school.

I appreciate the help on this one.

Why don't you ask... the church :)

My mother has been baptised 6 times!

It sounds to me that you’re trying to hedge your bets regarding school choice 😳
A bit like having your cake and eating it isn’t it OP?

How ridiculous. You need to do some study on the Christian faith.

Zombie. The child will be seven by now.

@CliveCussler

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

I doubt this is ok the other way round.

It very much is ok. If you’re baptised CofE you don’t get rebaptised to be fhc and confirmed RC

I hadn't realised this was a zombie thread so was a bit surprised to come across a post by myself

There’s no reason why you can’t have your child baptised in both churches. It’s not like there’s a central registry of baptisms where they look and go “oops his soul has already been claimed!” There’s no way either church could know the child has been baptised in the other.

Can I please push in to ask. When you talk about membership of a church, what do you mean? Do you get membership cards or something like that? Also, baptism, how do you prove that anyway?

I think you should be able identify as whatever religion you like….why be stuck with the first one you’re ‘given’. Or perhaps born into is a better phrase? Anyway, I’ve decided to be religion non-conforming