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baptism

baptism Let us consider first the baptism of adults. It is clear that before being baptized, adult candidates should be converted to the Lord, to living the Christian life, and to Christian morality, and they should be formed in Christian attitudes. The few adults who are seeking baptism today in the Catholic Church are frequently not led to a point of conversion before being baptized. Many Christians from other denominations are becoming Catholics to resolve a mixed marriage. Often they were unconverted members of their previous churches-and their instructions in the particulars of the Catholic faith do nothing to lead them to a conversion experience. They often are not led to a personal relationship with the Lord, a life of prayer:, life in the Holy Spirit, love of the brethren, and Christian service. Jesus may not be any more the center of their life after they become a Catholic than before. "Instructions" and the use of appropriate liturgical rites in the various stages of the adult catechumenate don't necessarily produce converts. With the baptism of infants, which is the predominant way the Catholic Church is maintaining itself today, we have an even more difficult situation. The Catholic Church has rightly defended the validity of infant baptism, citing its ancient and continuous practice and enunciating its theological justification. It has pointed out that infant baptism depends, for its ultimate effectiveness, on the baptized infant's being raised in an environment in which the infant can become a mature, committed Christian. The effective catechumenate required in conjunction with infant baptism, then, is provided after the sacrament is administered, as the child grows up in a family environment and parish environment that function as a training ground of Christian life and faith. According to the sacramental theology of the Catholic Church, infant baptism is supposed to be administered in the context of a community of faith that will provide what is needed for the seed of divine life planted in baptism to grow. Today, while the theoretical justifications for infant baptism remain valid, the conditions for its effective administration are realized less and less. The existence of a "very large number of baptized people who . . . are entirely indifferent to [their baptism] and not living in accordance with it" could have been predicted from the weaknesses in the circumstances in which the sacrament is being administered. Today, many of the babies being baptized in the Catholic Church will not grow up in an environment of active faith and example in their families, or their parishes, with which they will probably have only marginal, insignificant contact. Even 20 years ago there was something of a Christian environment and an "informal catechumenate" in many Catholic homes, particularly in ethnic Catholic neighborhoods and Catholic countries, but today that is less and less the case. The days when Western secular society was grounded in Christian principles are largely over, and the Catholic people who once had a supporting culture are rapidly being secularized by a powerful modern pagan culture. Religious instruction by itself is hardly ever effective in producing conversion, but six million American Catholic youth are not even receiving religious instruction. Those that are, even in Catholic schools. are usually much more influenced in life-style, values, and decisions by the world television. movies, books, universities. and so on) than by the church or even by their families. Is it not an abuse of the sacrament to baptize an infant when there may be little or no vital Christian commitment and life on the part of the parents, and little or no actual Christian community taking responsibility for the child being raised a Christian? Does a three-week course of preparation for parents and godparents really provide a means to conversion and to the construction of an ongoing Christian life for the raising of the child? Bibliography:

Word Count: 640