Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Who knew baptism was so complicated?

Disclaimer:  This post is NOT meant to offend anyone.  These are my feelings and my husband's feeling regarding our situation. 

I was raised as a Roman Catholic and Casey was raised as a Non-Denominational Christian. The two religions couldn't be any more different....and it has made certain things in our relationship challenging (to say the least). Our wedding, for example, was EXTREMELY frustrating to plan due to religious conflict: the ceremony location, pre-marital counseling, officiants, etc.  And we continue to face a dilemma with holiday and weekly worship services.

Well now we have a baby; we've created a child of God, and we've yet to get her baptised because of the constant religious debate.  And that good old fashioned Catholic guilt of mine is really starting to get bothersome.  See the problem is our religions baptise at different ages (Catholics: infants; Non-Denominational Christians: young adults).  I feel very strongly that Lucy needs to be baptised as a baby - for many reasons, but for the sake of time, we'll leave it at that.  Casey has no preference as to when she's baptised, just so long as she is baptised.

After recently discussing our options, we were able to come to a compromise (it only took us four years!).  We both had likes and dislikes of our own church; we agreed that Catholicism is a little too traditional and not very kid-friendly and we also agreed that Non-Denominational Christianity is a little too progressive (for us). 

So what did we do?  We googled infant baptism and read about the different meanings for each religion, and ultimately resonated most with the Lutheran belief. 

We've called the pastor of the Lutheran church in F Thrills, and we hope to meet with him next week.  We are very excited, and can't wait to get this little Goose baptised! 


Have any of you mommas had your little one baptised recently? 

Were you and your husband of the same religion, or did you also have to make a compromise?


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8 comments:

  1. Excellent topic! We had J baptized on June 26. This, too, was a discussion that began when we first started dating in 2005 and continued until J's birth.

    T grew up Jewish, I grew up Episcopalian. Whenever we had a discussion about our religious upbringings, we would often agree on principles, morals, values, beliefs - but all under different labels.

    Somehow, we have come to the compromise that we will expose J to his Jewish heritage (too important historically as much of his family lineage is no longer living) and share the secular holidays as such. J had a bris at 8 days to secure his birthright.

    However, we will raise him to be a follower of Jesus as my father is a priest, T's mother has converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and we feel it is extremely important.

    We hope to raise J to be an independent thinker and, ultimately, it will be his decision when he is an adult. We just hope to empower him with the appropriate knowledge and exposure as we see fit.

    I hope the Lutheran church fits your needs and Lucy has a wonderful baptism!

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  2. alex and i are both contemporary christians. luckly, we had no problems or difficulty in wedding planning. we will be dedicating jellybean once he/she is born. for us, child dedication is a time to stand before the congregation during a sunday service and declare our committment to walk in faith as a family. we are already signed up for the information class in october and jellybean will be dedicated in january.

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  3. AH- YAY! Is the Lutheran Church Wisconson, Missouri, or ECLA synod? I grew up in a Missouri Synod church, it was awesome. We now go to a non-denominational church and a part of me really misses the sermons that were based on doctrine, old fashioned hymns and the right of communion.

    We plan to do similar to Dianna. We'll be having a dedication for E, to dedicate our family to Christ and vow to raise our daughter as a Christian. When she's older we'll have her baptised. I was baptised at 5..and felt it was a good age. I won't do the whole 13-14 thing. Just my opinion.

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  4. I'm lutheran and I couldn't be happier with my decision! I'm glad you guys could compromise and didn't give up!

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  5. Carina was baptized by my Grandfather, who is a Catholic deacon back in April. There are many things that I don't see eye to eye with the Catholic church on, but M and I are both Catholic and are planning on raising her as such. I hope you love your new church; I'm sure the baptism will be beautiful :)

    Thanks for linking up to Toddle Along Tuesday at Growing Up Geeky and Our Growing Garden!

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  6. My hubby and I were both born and raised LDS(latter day saint-Mormon)so we had no issues with inter-faith decision making. In our faith, we give the baby a blessing after they are born, then the child gets baptised at age 8 (this gives them a choice if they want to become members of the church.) Do you know much about the Mormon church? My guess is you have probably seen the missionaries out and about. If you have questions, feel free to stop by and ask :) Also Mormon.Org is a great website to check out. I know you didn't ask for all of that, but would I be a good Mormon without giving you more than you asked for? :) I hope the baptism goes beautifully! And what I came by for in the first place...stopping by from the toddle along tues. blog hop! Newest follower, hope you will stop by and follow me back! I have some great giveaways going on with low entries, check them out! Have a great day!

    ali
    www.ncbabyblog.blogspot.com

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  7. For us it was never an issue due to us both being Roman Catholics. All of our babies were baptized before they were six weeks old. They all wore the baptismal gown that I was baptized in :)

    Glad to hear you guys found something that works for both of you. I can imagine it must be hard at times having a different faith, but so long as you both believe in Jesus, well...that's keeping the main thing the main thing, you know what I'm say'n? LOL

    Great job compromising! I wish your little one a beautiful ceremony and a life filled with our Lord's grace, love, and protection.

    I saw your link on the Toddle Along Tuesday blog hop! I'm a new follower on GFC :)

    Katrina
    They All Call Me Mom

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  8. My husband was raised Presbyterian, I was raised Catholic. Before we even got engaged, I told him that I wanted my kids to be raised Catholic.

    We had to compromise for our wedding- we married in the Catholic church, but didn't do a full mass (ie no communion).

    When our daughter was born, she was baptized in the Catholic Church. I really couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

    I'm very glad we talked about it long before it was an actual concern. I think if we had waited, it would have been a much harder and more emotional conversation.

    Crossing my fingers that you guys have found a church that is right for you!

    (Found you via the TAT blog hop!)

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