Posted on 07/15/2014 1:31:45 PM PDT by massmike
The Church is encountering requests for children’s baptism from parents in same-sex relationships. But few dioceses have actual policies in the area,which requires a great deal of pastoral attention and no one-size-fits-all answers.
In the Diocese of Madison,Msgr. James Bartylla, sent out an email to pastors asking them to “please seek consultation and coordination” with his office on requests for baptism of children to same-sex couples. The email stated that each case “must be evaluated individually,” because of difficulties in same-sex unions that “touch upon theology, canon law, pastoral approach, liturgical adaptation and sacramental recording.”
Madison Bishop Robert Morlino said he expects that the upcoming synods on marriage and the family called by Pope Francis will provide the Church’s pastors a set of helpful pastoral guidelines for dealing with these situations. But he said that the Church wants to find ways to fulfill the conditions necessary to baptize the child and transmit the faith, above all.
“If the gay couple were to come forward and present the child for baptism and somehow sincerely intend that the child be brought up Catholic, and if an arrangement could be made such that the child being brought up a Catholic was a reasonable hope, then we would strongly favor the baptism of the child,” he said.
If the same-sex couple could not provide that reasonable hope themselves, “then we would try to direct them to choose godparents who could intervene and bring the child up Catholic.”
“We’re not looking for a reason to exclude the child from baptism. We’re looking to create the conditions so that the child can validly and licitly be baptized,” he said. “That is pastoral service.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
Of course a child can’t be held responsible for the sins of his/her “fathers”.But you can be damn sure that the child of a pervert,biological or “adopted”,won’t be brought up to be a *real* Catholic.And maybe not even a phony one.
Don’t listen to what the church—any church—says; watch what it does.
I’m totally against homosexual “marriage,” and I believe that it’s not a good way to raise anyone else’s children, either. But the child is not to blame.
Why is this an issue? The parents are sinners not practicing Catholics. Is not baptism for practicing Catholics and their children???
Well, if the condition of the Baptism is that the “parents” promise to raise the child with the teachings and faith of the Church...NO!
Because their very lifestyle situation illustrates the lie of any such promise.
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