My son is engaged to a wonderful girl that is Catholic and wants a Catholic wedding. They're both in the Army in Iraq now, and have asked me to follow up on a few details.

My problem: My son was baptised in the Lutheran Church in or around 1980 in the Denver, CO area. I have since losted the certificate and can't remember the name of the church. Where can I go (hopefully on the internet) to locate the baptismal record?

Maggie

-- Maggie Woosley (maggiewoosley@yahoo.com), November 08, 2004

Answers

Bump

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), November 08, 2004.

I don't know the system of record keeping in the Lutheran Church - whether there is something analygous to a Catholic diocese for central record keeping or not. However, there are many reasons why a baptismal certificate might not be available, and in such instances the Church will normally accept a sworn statement by an eye witness, especially an official witness (godparent) or parent, in lieu of a certificate. So if you were present at the baptism, you could provide such a statement, or the godparent, if there was one, could do so.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), November 08, 2004.

Dear Maggie,

Lutherans do not have a central repository of Baptismal records; each baptism is listed in the parish register of the local church. Through the ELCA (Evanglical Lutheran Church in America) or LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) websites, you should be able to find the parish in Colorado. Then you would call the parish and have the secretary or pastor send you a copy of the Baptismal Register. If you could give me more information (was the Baptism in an ALC, LCA or Missouri Synod congregation? And in what city?) I might be able to help you.

Cordially,

-- Michael (edwardsronning@prodigy.net), November 08, 2004.