Baptism

Please read below for more information regarding these requirements.

1. Parents - fill out the Baptism Registration Card and send to Julie Young at [email protected]\
2. Godparents - submit a Letter of Good Standing to Julie Young ([email protected]) at least one month prior to baptism.  If you are an OLMC parishioner, we will verify "good standing."  If you are a non-OLMC parishioner, please have the form signed by your pastor or pastor's delegate.
3. Mother and Father of the Child and Godparents - Attend the Baptism Preparation Class no later than one month before your child's baptism.  If your child's baptism is on the 1st Sunday of a month, the class must be attended in the month before (class registration below).

• Information for Parents seeking Baptism for their infant child
• Information for sponsors (godparents)
• Letter of Good Standing (English)
• Letter of Good Standing (Español)

Baptisms are celebrated on Sundays after the 12:30 PM Mass.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."  - John 3:5

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." - Matthew 28:19-20

"Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift... We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship." - St. Gregory Of Nazianzus

Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth. - Catechism of the Catholic Church 1250

Read about the Sacrament of Baptism in the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 1213 - 1284

Preparation

Candidates for Baptism should be registered members of the parish before beginning preparation for the sacrament, or provide a "letter of good standing" from their former parish. Please contact the Parish Office to verify your registration and schedule a baptism date. 

If you have been a parishioner at OLMC for less than 3 months, we ask that you schedule a meeting with the Director of Evangelization upon filling out the Baptism Information Card.

All requirements must be met at least one month prior to the baptism or you will be asked to reschedule.

Infant Baptisms & Parent Requirements

A Baptism Information Card must be submitted to Julie Young ([email protected]) for each child to be baptized.

Baptism Preparation Classes are held on the first Sunday of each month unless stated otherwise at registration. Classes are held in the St. Joseph room in our newly renovated lower level. 

REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY

Per Canon 851 of the Code of Canon Law, both parents (mother and father) and godparents must attend the Baptism preparation class prior to the Baptism unless they have attended a parent baptism class in the last 5 years.
 

The parents of an infant to be baptized and those who are to undertake the function of sponsor are to be instructed properly on the meaning of this sacrament and the obligations attached to it...
Code of Canon Law 851 §2

Please note: while you may schedule your child's baptism prior to taking the class, if you have not completed the class at least one month prior to your child's Baptism, we will ask you to reschedule.

Please contact the Julie Young regarding the next  Parent/Sponsor Baptism Class
[email protected]
317-846-3475

The class in Spanish is offered on the fourth Tuesday at 6 PM. Call the Parish Office to register for this class. Por información sobre los sacramentos en español, clic aqui.

If you have attended a baptism class within the last five years at OLMC, you only need to fill out a Baptism Information Card and email it to Julie Young at [email protected]

Insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it. - Code of Canon Law, 872

Click here to read the guidelines regarding baptismal sponsors, or godparents
(Code of Canon Law, 873 - 874)

Per Canon 851 of the Code of Canon Law, anyone wishing to serve as a godparent must have attended a Baptism Preparation class within the past 5 years at their parish of registration.  (Please find the class registration above)

The parents of an infant to be baptized and those who are to undertake the function of sponsor are to be instructed properly on the meaning of this sacrament and the obligations attached to it...
Code of Canon Law 851 §2

If the Catholic sponsor does not belong to OLMC, a letter is needed from their parish stating that they are an active and practicing Catholic. To print a form to take to the parish of registration click here.

** Please submit your form at least one month in advance of the baptism. **

A non-Catholic Christian, baptized in another Christian denomination and never having been baptized in the Catholic Church, may serve as a Christian Witness alongside a Catholic Sponsor.  A Christian Witness does not need a letter of good standing.

A Catholic who does not meet all of the criteria is unable to serve as a sponsor of Baptism due to the gravity of the role to be undertaken as a role model and help the parents in the raising of the child in the Faith.

We enthusiastically invite anyone who wishes to serve as a Sponsor of Baptism but does not currently meet the criteria to contact us to learn what would be needed in order to meet the criteria, as the occasion of a Baptism often inspires renewal and conversion of heart.  Please email Thomas Gallagher at [email protected].

Children

Children, aged 7 to 8th grade, may need special instruction through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, Adapted for Children (sometimes known as RCIC) program. More information may be found here or by calling the Faith Formation Office at (317) 846-3878.

Adults (Rite of Christion Initiation for Adults - RCIA)

RCIA is for adults who are either a) beginning their journey toward becoming a member of the Church, or b) has not received all the sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. These are received at the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening. More information may be found here.

Taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition:

The meaning and grace is evident through the rite. Briefly walking through the rite, the sign of the cross marks the person who will belong to Christ and "signifies the grace of the redemption Christ won for us by his cross." The proclamation of the Word of God is to enlighten the candidates and assembly with the revealed truth. The faith response of this truth is inseparable from the sacrament. The person is anointed with the oil of catechumens to prepare them to profess the faith of the Church. The invocation over the water asks the power of the Holy Spirit be sent upon the water so that persons baptized may be born of water and Spirit. The essential rite is then performed, the immersion into the water. This is followed by a post-baptismal anointing, which announces the second anointing of Confirmation, to be administered later, to "confirm" and complete the baptismal sacrament.

The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on Christ," has risen with Christ. The candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him, the baptized are "the light of the world."

Please call the Parish Office at (317) 846-3475.