Posted on 01/11/2011 11:17:44 AM PST by Alex Murphy
A trend to ‘de-baptism’ is growing in Belgium as Catholics leave the Church in the wake of clerical abuse scandals.
“When you don’t agree with an organisation that you never chose to join in the first place, the healthiest thing to do is to leave,” Damien Spleeters told AFP.
The 24-year-old is among a growing crowd exasperated by church policy on issues such as AIDS, and angered by revelations last year of massive child abuse by priests and lay workers.
Spleeters last year wrote to the bishop overseeing the parish where his parents had him christened as a baby to announce he no longer wanted the church “to speak in his name” so was requesting to be struck off the baptism register.
“Whilst we deplore your decision,” replied Abbot Jean-Pierre Lorette, “the Catholic Church respects each individual’s freedom and will not hold back against their will those who wish to leave it.”
Spleeters, the priest added, was in consequence “logically” excommunicated.
In an interview, the young Brussels resident said “I don’t consider myself an atheist” but explained he turned to de-baptism due to growing irritation with the Catholic hierarchy.
"Roman Catholics, the largest U.S. church with a reported 69 million members, start counting baptized infants as members and often don’t remove people until they die. Most membership surveys don’t actually count who’s in the pews on Sunday. To be disenrolled, Catholics must write a bishop to ask that their baptisms be revoked..."Related threads:
....it is possible, for example, to be born Catholic, married Methodist, die Lutheran and still be listed as a member of the 1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church....
"...The Catholic understanding of membership is that a person becomes a member upon baptism and remains a member for life," Gautier said. "Whether you show up at church or not is not what determines whether you're a member."
-- from the thread When It Comes to Church Membership Numbers, the Devil's in the Details
Interesting that these people think they have any control over this. Baptism is a done thing, you can’t undo it. You can leave the Church physically, you can renounce your faith, you can denigrate Christianity. You can do all those things but if you were baptized, you are just another member of the Body of Christ being unfaithful from within.
ME! ME! ME! ME! IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!!!!
Boy you’re obviously on a mission.
“Baptism is a done thing, you can’t undo it. “ What’s a person’s status when excommunicated?
The good news is you don’t have to de-baptize in order to get into hell.
In fact, this is one of the few things you can just “wish” you could do, or even “wish upon a star” you could do - and it is granted!!!
Boy, that Catholic Church man, just wont unclench it’s nails once it gets you eh? It still counts you until you die.....when it’s big eye in the sky finally decides, even if you’re Lutheran, to cross you off the rolls and they shrink by one. Those legions of beurocrats that are claiming souls that no longer follow, just to keep the numbers inflated and the money coming in and the votes for representatives in the Changes Department. You may think you’re free, but they have your name somewhere on a paper, like your soul, and they will NEVER free it!
Now they’ll need counseling because they no longer belong to anything, have no meaning in their lives, and the Church doesn’t seem to be missing them.
The Left Myself Behind series.
So why don’t we just get some committed Catholic “priests” to borrow some strategically placed fire hoses and “baptise” everyone in the world?
Then everyone will be a member of the body of Christ, according to your formula, since the will and/or faith of the baptizee is not an issue (of no consequence).
I don’t understand. They’re mad at God?
I was born in a Catholic hospital into a family of another faith (A of G). The Catholic Nuns at the time would routinely take non-Catholic babies and secretly baptise them before they went home. Probably happened to me. Is there any way I can undo that?
Is this something that bothers you?
What kind of water do you use for a debaptism?
Then everyone will be a member of the body of Christ, according to your formula, since the will and/or faith of the baptizee is not an issue (of no consequence).
That is a ridiculous suggestion and not at all implied in my post. Baptism is not merely spewing water on people but is performed as a sacrament invoking the Threefold Name. There is the issue of consent for those over 13 yrs old or so and implied consent for those under. Records are kept documenting the consent.
Your suggestion is insulting. One hopes that was inadvertent.
A convenient excuse for people who never really 'joined' the Church, whether they were Baptized, or not, or those who had lost their faith a long time ago.
As for his comment about the Church and AIDS, I don't know what the Church does in Europe, but in the US, hospitals run by Catholic organizations have been at the forefront of ministering in both mind, and body, to those with AIDS.
Ow. Please tell me this is a translation error...
...if you never "joined" to begin with, how can you "leave"...
?
<< snort >>
That's ridiculous. Firat of all, the consequences of my parents "consenting" seem to be eternal. Do they have the right? What if they chose my marriage partner and my profession based on my "implied consent"?
Second of all, if it really is so binding and eternal, I'm supposed to just take their word for it? Records? What if the church burned down or it was misplaced?
I say infant baptism is pointless and meaningless.
They seem to think baptism is something they did to honor the Catholic Church, instead of in obedience to Scripture.
That’s the problem with infant baptism - it’s done for the parents, as the child is too young to know what’s going on. But when we become of an age of awareness and are baptised, we know we’re doing it as commanded by our Lord, and to identify with His death, burial and resurrection.
That’s easy. You are outside of a state of grace.
Do you think it harmed you in some way?
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