I am a divorced mother of two children. I am now pregnant by a man who was raised Roman Catholic. He wants the baby raised Catholic. I have agreed to convert as I want everyone to practice the same religion. We did not plan this pregnancy and had not thought of marriage for a couple of years in the future. My questions are: Will we be able to baptize our baby before we are married or must we be married in a Catholic church first? What steps should I begin taking now to start this process?

-- Jenifer Wood (jeni_jenjen@hotmail.com), December 30, 2001

Answers

Hello, Jenifer.

Yes, you will be able to have your baby baptized as a Catholic before your marriage, provided that your Catholic pastor judges "that there [is] a well­founded hope that the child will be brought up in the Catholic religion" (quoting from Canon Law #868).

The step that you should take now (without delay) is to make an appointment to speak to your local Catholic pastor for three reasons:
(1) You need help as an inquirer into the Catholic faith to which you desire to convert. Your motives for conversion must include the fact that you really believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches, not only that you want to share the religion of your husband and child.
(2) You need to explain the situation involving your first "marriage," and he will help you to begin the process of determining whether or not that "union" was actually invalid (which would leave you free to be truly married, in God's eyes, for the first time).
(3) You need to explain your desire for the baptism of your baby.

God bless you in the new year.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001.