Hello all,
My husband and I would like to plan a Christening/Baptism for our baby although we do not attend church regularly. We are Episcopalian (Church of England) although as I said we are not practicing.
My mother in law is visiting us from England in July, and she is Catholic. So although we are not particularly religious, we would like to have some sort of church service for the baby, preferably while she is here because it would mean a lot to her to be able to attend. (It doesn't have to be in a Catholic church, obviously - any kind of Christian church would do.)
Has anyone else gone through this (having a Christening/Baptism without being active members in a church), and how did you accomplish it? Any ideas on locations/venues? We live in North Bethesda but anywhere in the Washington DC area would be great.
Thanks for your ideas!
Re: Christening ideas? (We are not very religious)
We had DS baptized at an Episcopal church as well. We were not active members. But it was with the priest who married us. I think you just have to ask around. I have found most churches to be helpful and accommodating. I think (from other peoples stories) the Catholic church might require more as far as classes and stuff.
Good luck
We baptized our son in the Catholic church. I'm a former Episcopalian. I was raised in the Episcopal church.
every parish is different. The clergy have some leeway in the requirements.
When we baptized DS, we had to attend a class, be active members of the church and state our intention to raise him in the church. The godparents had to attend a class and be active, practicing Catholics too.
Generally the Episcopal Church is less strict then the Catholic Church. I don't thinnk they require classes, but I believe they require that the godparents be baptized too.
Baptism involves making a pledge to raise the child in the church. If you don't intend to raise your child in the church, you may face some obstacles. Many clergy people will refuse to baptize your child if you have no connection to their church and don't intend on establishing one.
Yeah, definitely would try and go with an Episcopal church. I am Episcopal and DH is Catholic, and since religion is more important in DH's family, we did our kids' baptisms at a catholic church. I believe you have to establish yourselves as members for a few months before doing an religious rite in a catholic church (you are required to register your family, then the church sends you envelopes with a bar code for each Sunday. You then make a contribution each week in the envelope. That's how they know you are "active"). But I digress....
Since you are in Bethesda, let me plug All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase circle. It is a beautiful, old church where my sisters, my nephew and I were baptized. My sister never went to church and was able to get my nephew baptized there, so I don't think you'd have any issues. Seriously, I love this church. Totally beautiful. I would have loved to get married there. But we had to get married in a catholic church.
We had DS baptized in a Catholic Church in Florida (since that is where most of our family lived), but attended a one-hour class at a Catholic Church in Alexandria. I am Catholic, DH is not, but we are not established members in any church.
I think it varies by church as far as whether you have to be a member or not.
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