baptism and unmarried parents

rubyred21899

any parents having trouble getting their child baptised being unmarried? my local church is asking for a copy of a marriage license, but were not married. we've been together over 10 years, but thats not good enough apparently.

jamie4duke

For my first DD we weren't married, but my church (United Methodist Church) didn't have a problem with it. 

CMDR513

Best friend had (and baptized) DDs #1 and #2 before they got married. I'd try other parishes, perhaps you'll find one that is more lenient.

userdeleted

It depends on each church, but many priests do not want to baptize if the parents show no intention of bringing the child up in the Church, as a practicing Catholic (and I believe that I read in the Catechism that this is the traditional viewpoint). If you are living together unmarried you may have difficulties getting your child baptized for this reason.

If it is very important to you then you have two options. First, you could get married and then would most likely not have an issue finding a priest to baptize the baby. Second, you could look around until you find a church that will accomodate you. I am sure that it's possible, children of unmarried parents (including myself) are baptized all the time. 

ETA: Also I'm assuming you're Catholic, my apologies for the irrelevant post if you're not

JARbaby

Our old church required you to submit that and be members which we were all of the above (married there)...new church does not even require us to be members.

CaitlinJ22

my sister baptized my niece without being married in a catholic church.

MrsAMB07

At my Catholic church they require parents to be married. At another Catholic church in the same town they do not... so it really depends. The difficult part about "shopping around", I would think, is that most churches want you to be a member of that church. I don't know how it would work for you, but in my area you become a member of the church based on address, so you dont' really have freedom to join wherever you want to go. It's a silly system, but maybe more lenient where you are. Good luck!

jay.otter

Our two local parishes plus DH's hometown parish where DS is getting baptized do not require this of the parents. I know for a fact we had a young unmarried couple in our baptism preparation class, and DH's unmarried cousin had no problem having his son baptized. All three parishes do require the godparents to be married in the church though.

I'm sure your parish is asking for a marriage certificate because they assume most couples are married. Just call them up and explain your situation.