Maryland Babies
shadowboxerkd
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Anyone planning a christening? or planned one?
shadowboxerkd
member
DH and I are Catholic and we'd like to plan a Christening. I'm due in February. So far, I've left it up to DH to take care of, but I'm concerned it's going to fall through the cracks. I know things tend to vary by church, but does anyone have a general idea of what to expect when planning this? Like how far in advance do we need to schedule, etc.?
TIA for any guidance!!
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Re: Anyone planning a christening? or planned one?
It's typically not something you plan until the baby is born. My DD was born in Feb. 08 and we had her christened that June because we moved into our house when she was 5 wks old and I needed the time to prepare our house since we had 20+ ppl over to our house for a party after.
We go to St. Mary's in Annapolis and we had to attend one info/prep session, the godparents did not have to attend this. We chose to have DD baptized in a group ceremony, it was 5 or 6 other babies and after the last mass on a Sunday (I think they did the group ceremony one Sunday a month.) I think that for our next DC we may do a private ceremony, but only because we will try and get the priest that married us to perform it. If we can't get him to do it I would go the group route again, it was nice to have the church full, etc.
If you do a party after I strongly recc'd getting it catered (even if you are just picking up the food on your way back from the church.) We did food from Adam's ribs, I think it was ~12 a person and SO worth it, as it's difficult enough to get you, the baby and your DH out of the house, looking nice, on time, plus keep the house looking nice, I can't imagine making a ton of food on top of that!
I think it's an archdiocese rule that one godparent must be Catholic. The other must be Christian, although you can get dispensation if you want someone else badly enough (my godfather was Jewish, now he's Unitarian and I guess he had to interview w/ a priest to get approved.)
The Catholic godparent needs to be baptized, confirmed and if married in a marriage recognized by the Catholic church. DD's godmother got a letter from her parish noting that she was in good standing, etc. BIL is the "Christian" sponsor and even though he was raised Catholic he is no longer practicing, got married by a rent-a-minister, etc.
Oooh...I didn't even think of the party afterwards....There are some places that I loved when we looked at places for our wedding reception, but they were too small. That could be exciting!
The last few christenings I have been to were group ones, and I guess I hadn't been in a long time, b/c I found it very strange. I guess b/c growing up I don't ever remember it being like that. I'm extremely territorial and would feel weird about having strangers there.
Yeah- I definitely used the baptism as an excuse to order another cake from Mary Elliott! So good!
The group thing didn't bother me- timing wise it was more convenient to have it right after the last mass on Sunday- for us anyway. At one point ALL of the babies were crying, which was kind of funny... also I always think about a christening/baptism as welcoming the baby into the chuch community, so doing it with others made sense.
We did too, and the first birthday and now we'll be getting another for the second birthday!!!
What a great idea!!! I love her cakes. She did our wedding cake, and I absolutely cannot wait to have the top on our anniversary
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She can do those cool Charm City Cake type cakes too...thanks for the idea!