Returning to church

[ProcrastinatingPingu]

Hi all!

So we’ve been talking about getting my daughter baptised since she was born, but it’s only in the past few months after a lot of discussion, we’ve made the decision to actually have it done.

I’m R.C and my husband is CofE and we would like our daughter to be baptised into my church.

More than anything we would like to become part of the community and attend services and events.
I’m aware some people get their children baptised to get into a local school, and then bugger off never to be heard from until communion time, and I wouldn’t want that.

What would you say would be a good way to get back into parish life when you don’t have much time on your hands? How do you make enquiries about baptisms? I’m very out of practice I have to say.

Thanks in advance!

Your church should have an email address available on their website. Try that. You could email about the baptism enquiry. Someone will be in touch and the priest will want to talk to you about your intentions - that's a good chance to let him know that you want to join the congregation and attend regularly and to ask any questions that you might have.

You don't need a lot of time to belong to a church - an hour or two most sundays but there are often extra events you can attend to feel more part of the community. These will be advertised in church/at the sunday service so you should be able to choose what you want to attend: baby/toddler group, alpha course, weekly café, lent group . . . all sorts.

HTH

Start going to church.

Go to the Welcome lunches.

Join a home group.

Do a course, such as Alpha.

Help out with outreach, such as the Foodbank.

We all have the same 24 hours in the day.

Is church a priority for you?

The baptism and getting involved in your parish are two separate questions.

For the baptism, you just need to enquire at your local parish, either on the website or in the newsletter or, failing both of those, ask the priest.

They won't mind that your husband is CofE, but the other requirements will differ depending on your area. In my area, you will have to show proof of your own baptism and confirmation, and that of the godparents. As a minimum in any parish you will have to show proof of your baptism and the godparents' baptism. Then you will attend a baptism course (preferably both parents) and arrange the baptism with the priest.

For getting involved in your parish, you can either check the newsletter for what groups there are and contact the appropriate named person directly, or ask the priest what there is going on. If the parish newsletter shows that the priest has a 'surgery' during the week then that's a much better opportunity to meet and ask detailed questions than when he's busy doing the meet and greet after Mass.

Obviously the first step is to start attending Sunday Mass and go from there.

This is not meant as a criticism, but since it has taken you so long to decide to have your child baptised, it may be worth following a course like RCIA or Alpha. Even though you're already Catholic so you don't need to be prepared for the sacraments yourself, it sounds as though you could maybe do with a refresher on what we believe, why it's all important etc. Plus, such courses carry the additional benefit of integrating you into the community.

Your husband would not be able to take communion in some Catholic Churches unless he too converted, so you may wish to consider that if it is important to him.