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August 2012 Moms
bigbootyjudi
member
Catholic baby baptism - naked?
bigbootyjudi
member
At church yesterday, I saw my first Catholic baby baptism. I was baptized Pentecostal, but for the last two years, SO and I have been going to church with my grandpa (who is Catholic) at his church. My grandpa was very ill two years ago and unable to drive, so we would take him and then it just became a little Sunday tradition.
During the first part of the baptism (introducing the godparents, having them make their baptismal promises, etc), the baby was in a plain white onesie. Halfway through service, they had the family come up to the fountain and I thought they were going to just pour water over the baby in her onesie. No. Her family stripped her down into nothing, not even a diaper, and the priest held her and submerged her body (not her head) in the water three times (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Afterwards, her parents dressed her in her baptismal dress and they finished the ceremony.
I asked my grandpa if it was normal for them to be stripped down into nothing and he said yes. My SO is Catholic and he said he had never seen it done like that (and that he heard a few people gasping, but I didn't hear...). He asked a friend who grew up very involved in the Catholic church and he said he had never heard of it either.
If you're Catholic or have been to a Catholic baptism, is this how it was done (the au natural part)? SO doesn't want our son stripped down in front of everyone, baby or not, and I'm afraid he would pee all over the priest/in the holy water! But, getting him baptized is important to us and my grandpa would just be over the moon if we did it at his parish. It is also the only church we go to, so it would make sense to do it there.
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SCANDAL!
SCANDAL!
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Re: Catholic baby baptism - naked?
That is really f** weird. And creepy. I'm hardcore Catholic and have been to a zillion baptisms.
Sorry, don't care about your grandpa's feelings, that is just CREEPY and wrong, and I'd do it at one of the billion other parishes that don't do it naked. Given the Church's recent, ahem, scandals, I would say this is a GIANT sign you need to find a different parish NOWWW.
ETA: And the water goes on your forehead only.
Ditto this for both of our kids.
Catholic here. Been to many many baptisms including that of my first child and my goddaughters and no one has been naked. Priest pours a little water over the baby's head over the baptismal font, that's it.
Roman Catholic, the baby is usually dresses. I have been to 2 eastern rite catholic baptisims that the baby was undressed.
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I am Roman Catholic and I have never seen a naked baby during baptism. Also they only pour water on the forehead.
I was raised Catholic, converted to a different religion, and have attended many baptisms. In every one the baby was clothed, usually in a special gown, and water sprinkled on the forehead. I would look for a church that follows the standard practices.
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Dude... totally not a SCANDAL! OMG, relax. It could have been the parent's/godparent's wishes. Sheesh...
For baby dedications...it's not called baptism until the child is old enough to dedicate their own lives, babies are fully clothed. For actual baptisms, you usually wear a bathing suit under a white robe and get fully submerged into the pool (representing the river of the first baptism). This is how my daughter was dedicated and how I was baptized.
Oh...to add on. I havent heard of a naked dedication....he probably did it to truly represent baptism but that's all I could think of. Never heard of it before this.
We're talking about Catholic baptism though (or at least I am, LOL), which is done in infancy. You're talking about Protestant baptism/dedication, right?
Thank you! The river baptism was exactly what I was thinking of!!!
My husband's family is Catholic and none of the kids were naked. We just had to loosen her gown in the back so the priest could put oil and holy water on her chest.
Now my friend is Greek Orthodox and those poor babies are butt naked in the fount. And each time I've gone to a baptism those babes peed in the water. It can't be helped. Once you take their diaper off and their naked tush hits the holy water, they pee. The priest was completely unfazed by this as was the family.
I was explaining to another poster about the difference because she was asking about Baptist...or at least trying to figure out where the naked baptism would have came from...I am/was/whatever lol...Pentecostal/Southern Baptist...
Yea, I figured...glad I could help
Lurking.
I've heard of people doing this... you could even get a little swimmers diaper if you don't want them completely nude. But, at most baptisms I've been at, the water is just poured over the baby's forehead.
Usually, I don't think the baptism is done during the service, so I'm not sure how many my grandpa has actually seen (referring to him saying that it was normal). This particular baptism was for a deceased usher's granddaughter and I don't know if it was per the family request that the baby be naked either. I think I will talk to the priest and see what he says (I have to talk to him anyways, since I'm not Catholic) about leaving our LO dressed. I would really hate to do it at another parish because the priest knows us well at my grandpa's parish and I'd rather have our LO's baptism be personal, not just by a priest that doesn't know him or our family.
Thanks for proving my SO right, everyone! Lol, he always is!
SCANDAL!
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