Judge Bork, baptized at 76

U.S. News & World Report ^ | 7/22/03 | Paul Bedard With David LaGesse

[NYer]

Welcome Home, Judge Bork! ping ...

[bethelgrad]

As a Protestant, I of course wish he'd stuck with his upbringing. Neverthless, I celebrate with him in his decision for Christ. God bless him.

[philosofy123]

Werlcome Judge Bork. I love you man. This thing is a MARKET SHARE thing. Catholics are up to cature lost market share to the protestants. Score one for the Catholics.

[ThomasMore]

It's never too late! Praise the Lord!

[Incorrigible]

Wow!

[Ann Archy]

Didn't Dick Morris convert also?

[wideawake]

The Opus Dei prelature has several levels of participation.

There are the Opus Dei clergy, known as the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Cross; numeraries - laypersons who are celibate, full-time workers in Opus Dei; supernumeraries, laypersons who are generally married or who plan to marry and who live in the workaday world; and cooperators, who are not necessarily even Catholic and not really members of the prelature.

Freeh and Hansen were supernumeraries if they were actual members. They may just have been cooperators. No news article I've seen makes it clear.

[Hatteras]

"It's never too late!"

Unless you're a Jewish convert. Oooooh, that can't be too pleasant.

[wideawake]

The thing is - he may not have had much of an upbringing. His folks may have been just nominal Christians.

[nickcarraway]

U.S. Senator Brownback and Commentator Dick Morris Join Catholic Church

[wideawake]

All baptisms of water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are considered valid by the Catholic Church whether administered by the Catholics or not.

I know Reformed Christians who were raised Christian but not baptized until their late teens or early twenties - their feeling was that they shouldn't be baptized until they really experienced being born again.

If Bork belonged to such a denomination, and fell away from churchgoing as a young man, it's possible that he was never baptized.

[k omalley]

The Catholic church recognizes baptisms performed by Protestant churches. If Bork was a "generic" protestant, chances are he never got around to being baptized. It is not an uncommon occurence.

[wideawake]

The Catholic Church does not normally baptize by aspersion.

[irish_links]

"..Lots of other prominent Catholics were there, such as columnist and speechwriter Peggy Noonan, herself a convert,,,"

Is Peggy Noonan really a convert? Can anyone confirm this? I can find no reference to her conversion on the web.

[Reo]

"does the Catholic Church not recognize the legitimacy of his prior baptism?"

It did when my wife and I became Catholics nine years ago. As we both had been baptised as children in our parents' Protestant denominations (Presbyterian and Congregational), our priest brought us into the Church with us reciting the Nicene Creed in a small, private ceremony. A wonderful, grace-filled day!

[al_c]

And just because you are sprinkled doesn't mean you are baptised

Did the article say he was sprinkled?

[onyx]

Although Bork is a judge, and Ito is (or was) a judge, so I guess there is a tenuous connection.

Despite the error in threads, I love it! LOL!

[TontoKowalski]

Hot-diggety-dog!

A post on what should be good news is now turned into a back-and-forth between Catholics and Protestants! The flames should be coming soon.

If only there were some mention that Bork was a Mason or a Knight of Columbus, then the action could really get going!

[B-Chan]

Great news! Welcome home, Judge Bork!

NB: The Catholic Church recognizes all Christian baptisms, whether performed by Protestant, Orthodox, or Evangelical clergy, as long as these are valid in form (trinitarian) and matter (water).

Valid baptisms perfomed by laymen and even non-Christians are also recognized, believe it or not!

I was baptized as an teenager in an Assemblies of God church. When I was reconciled to the Catholic Church, our priest declined to perform another baptism, since my "Evangelical baptism" was done in the name of the Holy Trinity and was thus completely valid. When serious doubt exists as to the validity or correct performance of a previous baptism, a bishop will sometimes authorize a "conditional" Catholic baptism (i.e. "just in case"), but this is rare; the Evangelical church where I was originally baptized didn't even record my baptism, but its validity was accepted by the Church upon my word alone, with the option of obtaining testimony of witnesses (which they did not ask for).