Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body the Church. Holy Baptism is appropriately administered within the Eucharist at the chief service on a Sunday or other feast day.
Each candidate for Holy Baptism is to be sponsored by one or more baptized persons. Parents and godparents are to be instructed in the meaning of Baptism, in their duties to help the new Christians grow in the knowledge and love of God, and in their responsibilities as members of his Church.
Parents are required to meet with the officiating clergy prior to the baptismal service, usually the Saturday prior to the service.
In our baptismal service, the whole congregation joins the parents and godparents in making the promises on behalf of the child. This underscores the sharing of the adoption of the candidate into the wider family of Christ’s Body the Church, rather than limiting it to a private affair. Holy Baptism is appropriately administered within the Eucharist as the chief service on a Sunday or other feast day. Holy Baptism is especially appropriate at the Easter Vigil, on the Day of Pentecost, on All Saints’ Sunday, and on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord (the first Sunday after Epiphany). Other dates are set by the clergy. The 2011 dates are as follows:
January 9 – 1st Sunday after Epiphany – The Baptism of our Lord
March 6 – last Sunday in Epiphany
April 24 – Easter
June 12 – Pentecost
August 7 - The Transfiguration
September 25 – The 15th Sunday after Pentecost
November 6 – All Saints’ Sunday
Email Laura Magevney, Director of Christian Formation, with any questions.
