Baptism

Following in the footsteps of John the Baptist, the early Christian Church heard the call of Christ to go out and "baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit."

Baptism is the first sacrament in the initiation into the Catholic Church.  Though less common than in the past, the Church continues to baptize infants in the belief that Original Sin(theology of St. Augustine) must be erased as soon as possible after birth.

Even more common today is adult baptism; i.e., those over the age of 7.  Converts to the Catholic Church are coming into the Church in droves.  Whether they are people who have never been churched in any religion or those converting from other religions.  In our diocese alone(one of hundreds in the U.S.) we have had over 1500 adult converts every year for the past several years and in some dioceses the numbers are even more staggering.  To bring adults into the Church the Vatican Council established the RCIA(Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program that catechizes older children and adults.  During this process/journey they are taught what it means to become Catholic/Christian and this takes a significant period of time for classes, instructions, prayer.  These people are already on their journey of faith and it is us to us to guide them through that process.   Father Kreiger once told me in my process/journey that once I became Catholic I would always be Catholic and I have never forgotten that.  We tell people the same thing today.  We do not let everyone who walks through the door become Catholic, you must really understand and know what you are asking for and then be willing to walk the mile to get there.  Sometimes that mile is 9 months, 18 months or even 2 years.   But once you've gone through a good RCIA  program you'll either want to become Catholic or you won't, but at least you'll know more about who we are if you decide not to go through with the baptism.

Catholics believe that once you are baptized you are saved.  You are a child of God baptized to be priest, prophet and king.  Now you must go out (In the words of Dr. Laura Schlessinger) and "take on the world."  A baptized Christian does that by following the commands of Jesus Christ; i.e., (1) Love God more than anything else in the whole world; (2) Love one another as you do yourself; (3) Feed the hungry; (4) Clothe the naked; (5) Visit those who are sick or in prison.  Do all of that and your place in glory is reserved, no questions asked!

Next--Confirmation