please help me with my question.I was baptised and raised catholic.I attended boarding school in Adrian Michigan with the dominican sisters at their motherhouse.StJoseph Academy,Adrian Michigan.I have a friend who is in the Baptist relgion, she has introducsed me to her church.I asked to be baptised this Easter sunday at her church by a minister.My question is this i hope im not doing anything against my catholic religion. i just want to be baptised in the way they due it by total emersion.I have been in a 12 step recovery program for 7 years, and im at the point that im spiritually hungry for the word of the lord.I feel this would begin a new life for me with Christ.I dont want to change from catholic , just be baptised again.Thank you for any help you may be able to give me, asap answer please.Im doing it this sunday. randy dimarco....Rleedimarco@aol.com

-- Randy DiMarco (Rleedimarco@aol.com), April 17, 2003

Answers

Response to RE-baptised

If your first baptism was valid, then a subsequent one does nothing for you (insofar as graces.) Taking part in another religion's baptism is not necessary to bring you closer to God. As a Catholic, you have a duty to study and learn your faith. In doing this you will learn that what one needs to get back on the straight and narrow path of salvation is Confession and Holy Communion.

This link will help you with most of your questions.

Pray to the Holy Ghost for guidance.

-- Isabel (isabel@yahoo.com), April 17, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

amen isabel, right on the money, you can get baptized again, but its not going to have anymore effect on you than normal water would, although im sure that a total submersion baptism would yield some pretty cool pictures... if you want my opinion, go to your priest and ask if you can have some basic books to study the doctrine of the church and then schedule an hour in which to discuss what you have learned. this will help you immensely because you have already undergone the rebirth into the body of Christ, so this will move you farther down that path. and certainly i would hope that you go for confession, communion, and confirmation in the church. welcome back to the faith.

-- paul (dontSendMeMail@notAnEmail.com), April 18, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

Hello Randy,

I can see why you would like to do something this Easter to show God a newfound dedication to Him, but to be honest, I would suggest something other than getting baptized again. Unless a person's initial attempt at baptism was invalid, he should not seek to have this sacrament done again. Once baptized, a person is sealed by the Holy Spirit with an "indelible spritual mark (or 'character') of his belonging to Christ" (Catechism of Catholic Chruch #1272). "Because of the character, Baptism cannot be repeated" (CCC# 1280). For you to attempt a second Baptism could be seen as a denial of your first one. This, in turn, could become a denial of the gift of Baptism that the Holy Spirit has already given you.

I commend you for the years you have put into your recovery program, and I commend you for wanting to do something this Easter to show your spiritual hunger for the Lord. But might I suggest that instead of attempting a "re-baptism" you do something the renew the Baptism you already have? For example, to reflect upon your Baptismal vows and Confirmation and re-dedicate yourself to the Lord. This could be done in the context of some kind of ceremony, if you like.

God bless, -Eric

-- Eric Filmer (midgardia@hotmail.com), April 18, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

In the spirit of your rejunvenation of you faith and trust in Christ and the Church may I suggest as I had done attend a Corsillo Weekend? A total of 72 hours among other men in total isolation was/is an experience never to forget.

God Bless You.

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), April 18, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

Good suggestion, Jean.

In addition, I offer a Christ Renews His Parish weekend retreat which some parishes now offer. It usually involves a late Saturday beginning, culminating on Sunday afternoon with a special Mass. From my involvement on the female side, great strides are often made in these retreats. And are sometimes free to enter into.

Re-baptism does not exist in most liturgical faiths. That's one of the reasons we keep Holy Water in fonts in our narthex entrances...we dip a finger into the blessed liquid, and remind ourselves of our baptismal promise by making the sign of the cross, in conjunction reciting the prayer that accompanies. Once baptised, always baptised. For the continued cleansing of sin, there is the beautiful Sacrament of Reconcilliation. If the truth be told, confession is the real "re-baptismal" action.

Oro pro nobis, Sancta Maria

-- Melissa Wilson (meanolemelissa@hotmail.com), April 19, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

Incidentally, immersion is an acceptable method of baptism in the Catholic Church. It is not often done for adults, mainly for logistic reasons, and it is not done for infants, for safety reasons. However, even though baptism by immersion is allowed, REbaptism by any method is not allowed.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), April 20, 2003.

Response to RE-baptised

Jmj

Hello, Randy.
It's Easter Sunday now, so I hope that you took the good counsel of the people who wrote to you on each of the last few days -- attending Mass (and renewal of your Baptismal promises), rather than a non-Catholic service (where you would have been ineffectually immersed in water).

Isabel gave you some good advice, but she also gave you a link to the Baltimore Catechism [BC]. While the BC does not contain errors, it is quite old, being a product of the U.S. bishops between 1891 and 1921. You would do much better to read the much newer and larger Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], which was prepared by all the bishops of the world between 1985 and 1997.

For a "search engine" page on which you can jump in and look up any specific topic in the CCC, click here.
For the full table of contents of the CCC, click here.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 20, 2003.