Pastor’s Letter: September 28, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: September 28, 2025

26 Sep 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! I pray that everyone is enjoying a great week—it has been another one full of gifts and joys here! This past week, I had the opportunity to observe several parents making decisions about what was best for their children. One parent was instructing about why something wouldn’t work based on the family calendar. Another was laying out which foods needed to be eaten before the child could have treats. There were two occasions where parents offered instruction/corrections about behavior and social situations. I also had the opportunity to talk with a couple of parents before they chose to have their child baptized. Of course, we could understand they made a choice to give their child the graces of Baptism, which we have been reviewing the last couple of weeks. Maybe we could simply say, like in each of these above situations, the parents are doing what they think is best. But what could we say to people who don’t share our tradition of baptizing young people? How do we answer questions that come up from people who don’t share our Catholic Faith? To help us be prepared for these moments, let’s look at a few common questions:

Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? To answer this directly, yes!  To be saved, we must believe and be baptized. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5). As we have been reviewing, Baptism is needed because it establishes the life of God within us through the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is necessary because only He can bring us into union with Jesus. (Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5). As the Scriptures teach, baptism is a mandate for all (Mt 28:19), creates disciples (1 Pet 3:20-21), and saves us (Acts 16:15, 27-34). Although God is not bound by the sacraments (certainly with His power God can do anything!), He has given them to us as our ordinary pathway to life in the Kingdom. The Catholic Church does teach that there are a couple of other special ways to be “baptized.” One is Baptism by blood—when a person dies for the Faith before they have an opportunity to be baptized (for example, some early martyrs). Another is called Baptism by desire—where people lead with charity a good and holy life—here we see there is an implicit desire to be baptized and live life in Christ. Along these lines, children who die before baptism are entrusted to God’s mercy, knowing both His love and the desire parents would have for their children.

What about Infant Baptism?  Christ commanded all to be baptized and didn’t want children to be kept from Him (Mk 10:14). We are told by the Scriptures that St. Paul baptized whole families (Acts 16:15, 1 Cor 1:16), which certainly would have included children. St. Peter said baptism was for all:  you and your children and all who are far off (Acts 2:38-39). Infant baptism was taught by St. Irenaeus by early 200s. St. Hippolytus (215AD) said “baptize the children first. If they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.” St. Cyprian and the other bishops taught that infants should be baptized as soon as possible after birth.  He wrote to Fidius (253AD), “As to what pertains to the case of infants:  you said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth…In our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. Rather, we all judged that the mercy and grace of God ought to be denied to no man born.”

Is personal understanding necessary to receive the graces of Baptism? This question is related to Infant Baptism—are children at a disadvantage because they don’t understand what baptism means for their lives? In a practical way, we could ask…if understanding was required to receive God’s gifts, how could we receive anything at all? Who of us would be so bold as to say we have the capacity to grasp all that God is giving? As mentioned above, parents often make decisions for the good of their children, speaking for them in the moment. In the Order of Baptism for Children, parents and godparents make a Profession of Faith on the child’s behalf. We also see in the Scriptures that Christ looks on the faith of friends for those who cannot speak for themselves (for example, Mk 2:1-6…healing the paralytic; Mt 8:5-13…healing of the centurion’s servant). We certainly believe parents give the gift of Baptism to their children, knowing that growth in understanding and living life in Christ is a life-long endeavor.

Is Baptism by Immersion necessary? If you recall from a couple weeks ago, we said that the word for baptism can mean to plunge or immerse…which we have understood as either immersing the person or plunging the sin away. We have early testimony from Church Fathers that pouring or even sprinkling water was valid. The Didache, a document from the first century, says that baptismal water may be poured when there is not enough water for immersion. Tertullian in 160 AD described baptism as a “sprinkling with any kind of water.” St. Augustine (died in 430 AD) says sins are forgiven even though the water “merely sprinkles the child ever so lightly.” Eusebius (writing during the early 300s) says that the sick were baptized by pouring water. As another witness to the pouring of water, early artwork never shows a person under water, but standing in water with a shell, vase, or hand being used to pour water over the head.

Practical reasoning also gives us some conclusions:  First-century homes did not have bathtubs, there was little water in that climate (notice they always go to wells to get water). It is very likely in any given location there would not have been enough water available to do a full immersion of a person, let alone large groups of people who were brought into the Christian Faith at the same time. Whatever the particular details, what is important is that water is washed over the head and the words are used: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” From earliest times, the Church has prescribed that baptism is valid, either by immersion or by pouring of water, along with the above words. Circumstances such as local custom, age of the person, illnesses, availability of water, font size, time available, etc. all come into play when deciding whether to immerse or pour water. For example, some Catholic Churches have large in the floor fonts which are large enough for immersion, others have a raised font with a small basin of water like here in our church. However big or small, we can take joy in knowing that what happens at those fonts in Baptism brings people into union with Christ and enlarges the family of God.

Know of my prayers and blessing for everyone this week!

In Christ,
Fr. Luke