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Hi Jason,
Thank you for your question.
Baptism, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation:
- are not events, nor
- are they are
not excuses for families to get dressed up, throw parties, and exchange
gifts.
They are holy covenant acts known as sacraments.
Therefore, the Church cannot grant Baptism to a child unless She is convinced
that the parents will raise the child as a Catholic. It is not enough to
say, I intend to bring up my child as a Catholic while, at the same time,
living a lifestyle that sends the opposite message.
For example, if you are currently living with your fiancée and continue to have
marital relations outside the sacrament of Matrimony, you clearly are not
living as a Catholic.
To put it bluntly, you are actively living in mortal
sin.
Baptism is not a right; it requires a profession of faith in Jesus Christ
and all that His Church teaches. When an adult is baptized, he is asked a series of questions. Among them is:
- Do accept all the teachings
of the Catholic Church because they are revealed by God?
Since a child cannot speak for himself, the Church looks to the faith
of the parents and Godparents to answer on his behalf. Therefore a parent(s)
must believe. The Parents and/or Godparents make the declaration of faith
on behalf of the child.
Faith is not simply verbalizing intellectual
agreement and it's certainly not meant to be empty
lip service rendered
during some ceremony. On the contrary; faith is, what faith does!
If your
lifestyle does not line up with your profession of faith, then you don't
believe your profession of faith. If that's the case, the last thing you
want to do is participate in an oath (which is what
sacrament means) in
which you falsely profess faith.
The good news is that, if you repent of the lifestyle you appear to be
living, it would seem that the impediment could be removed.
John
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