View all Ask a Priest |
“Ask a Priest: Could I Be Baptized in My Wife’s Denomination?”
Q: As a child I was baptized in the Catholic Church. My wife was not raised as Christian, but later as an adult she was baptized in a Christian denomination. I attend her church as well as a Catholic church. She would like me to be baptized in her church, but if I do that would that mean I am no longer Catholic? Am I sinning in doing so? Are there consequences to getting baptized a second time and in another church? – D.
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: You can’t be baptized a second time. Baptism leaves an indelible mark on your soul and thus can’t be repeated.
In any case, your attempt at being “baptized” in a non-Catholic denomination would be akin to a public profession of belief in that group’s beliefs, which in effect could be interpreted as a public repudiation of your Catholic faith. Such an act would be objectively sinful and possibly scandalous.
When Catholic Christians profess to believe in the Catholic Church, we signal that we believe the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of elements of truth and sanctification. We believe that due to the wounds in our communion with other Christians, they have some of these elements of truth and sanctification, but not all of them.
So, a step away from the Catholic Church is a decision to leave behind certain elements of truth and sanctification; it is a wound to the Christian unity to which we are all called.
While the Church doesn’t have strict rules about attendance at non-Catholic services, you might want to be careful that your association with your wife’s denomination isn’t undercutting your faith.
The fact that you ask about being baptized in this other group shows that you could be absorbing a faulty understanding of the sacraments. Your Catholic faith might already be suffering from exposure to the non-Catholic group and its services and teachings.
You might want to step back and reconsider whether it’s hurting your Catholic faith to attend these other services on a regular basis. (These other services, of course, never substitute for the Mass.)
It might also be good to dedicate time to understanding your faith better. Some resources that might help: the Catechism of the Catholic Church; The Case for Catholicism; and The Essential Catholic Survival Guide.
By understanding your faith better, you will be better able to share it with your wife, and perhaps help lead her to conversion. The Church’s treasures, including its sacraments and teachings, can help equip the both of you to reach heaven.
Keep learning more with Ask a Priest
Got a question? Need an answer?
Today’s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. AskACatholicPriest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just type in your question or send an email to AskAPriest@rcspirituality.org and you will get a personal response back from one of our priests at RCSpirituality. You can ask about anything – liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events… Our goal is simply to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question…
What did you think?
Share your review! Just log in or create your free account.
One Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
When this questioner’s wife asked him to be baptized in her church, it puzzles me why he didn’t say a simple: better yet, how about you getting baptized in my Christian church of Catholic faith prACTices? This would prompt a nice discussion of what Baptism is about. Baptism, is a Sacrament (the visible reality bringing interior grace, to a soul – of bringing a soul under a common union again with God through God’s ONLY divine Son. (with understanding that this common unity with God is due to Christ’s work on the cross)
BAPTISM is not about ‘joing a church’ aka ‘a social club’ . . . BAPTISM unites the soul of mankind with God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The word CATHOLIC means UNIVERSAL. All Baptized Christians are part of the ‘one body’ of God’s ONLY Divine Son. Ephesians Chapter 4 (I believe) states: There is ONE Faith, ONE Baptism, ONE God who is Father. in some manner, this man’s wife is catholic (small c) The difference is in the faith prACTices (the religion, of a denominational Christian church) Religion is to draw a soul CLOSER to God… HOW? by FAITH AND OBEDIENCE to CHRIST’S words on what to do to show an act of faith. Be Baptized in NAME OF Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Take and Eat, HE said, this bread is my body. (real presence) IF Christ says do it, who would question that? And be anointed (Confirmed) as adult member of Christ’s church … receiving the gifts of the Spirit . . . which grows as one is obedient to the FAITH in practice. (Obedience brings Sanctifying Grace)
D should explain to his wife that he is validly in Communion with God… and tell her she is also… for there is ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, ONE GOD who is Father. Then, rather than he always going to her church on Sunday, he should stand for what he believes and invite his wife to join him in the faith in practice of The ONE HOLY APOSTOLIC CHURCH of Jesus Christ… and if she won’t, then SIMPLY PRAY individually in different buildings and show THE LOVE of GOD . . . they have for each other, in the day to day living. (as always) . . . D should persevere and learn more OF HIS FAITH PRACTICES. (tune in to EWTN)
His wife knew who he was when she married . . . so continue as is . . . and pray she grow to see the Christ
in him.