Hi Pat,

This is a common question; it's even in our searchable knowledge base.

There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try.

I searched the knowledge base for you and found these web postings that should answer your question:

• When did the Church start baptizing babies?
• Should Baptism be done at birth or later and what's the reasoning of non-infant Baptism believers?
• As a lapsed, baptized Catholic, can you explain some of the practices of the Catholic Church?
• In light of Acts 2:38, how can an infant repent?
  
  
• You may be able to find other interesting answers here.
  

Let me give you my personal take on your questions.

You said:

• Do children really need to be baptized at birth? or
  
• Should they wait until they are old enough to understand what the whole meaning of being baptized in [his/her] faith truly means?

Yes! Children do need to be baptism immediately after birth. Remember Jesus told us:

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

John 3:5

The parent's faith stands in for the child and is ingrained into the child as they grow from infant, to the age of reason: age 7; to around age 16, when they are confirmed and make that decision for themselves at Confirmation.

You said:

• For someone who may not be a Catholic but only a Christian Christ follower, how do we drive the need to be baptized home at birth?
• Where can we find the proper teaching on this topic, rather than following an abc set of guidelines?

We drive the need home by:

1. telling them what Jesus told us in John 3:5!, and
2. showing them what the very first Christians believed. They lived from 100 A.D. to 850 A.D.

If anyone, minister or otherwise, says the normative means for becoming part of the body of Christ is not water Baptism, they will have to account for this at their particular judgment.

Those abc set of guidelines are from the Lord Himself. This last question sounds like it is coming from a Protestant that does not believe in Oral Tradition. We do believe in Oral Tradition. Check my Scripture Passages pages:

• Scriptural support for the Catholic teaching on infant baptism.
• Topics related to Catholic issues and common Protestant misunderstandings or errors.
  

You should ask them why they don't believe in Oral Tradition. That said, don't accept complaints about bad behavior in our Church unless they can show you a Protestant congregation that does not have bad behavior : )

I hope this helps,

Mike