"Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of
God without being born of water and Spirit" (Jn 3:5). "Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the
age" (Mt 28:19-20).
In these two verses from sacred Scripture, the Church finds
the foundation for Her teaching that baptism is necessary for
salvation. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
states, "The Church does not know of any means other than
Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is
why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has
received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized
are 'reborn of water and the Spirit.'" (CCC 1257). Because
baptism is "the basis of the whole Christian life, the
gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives
access to the other sacraments" (CCC 1213), the Church has
reminded Christian parents of their obligation to have their
children baptized shortly after birth (Code of Canon Law,
Canon 867, §1), and, in the case of unbaptized adults,
has fully initiated them into the life of the Church by
conferring upon them the sacraments of baptism, confirmation
and the holy Eucharist.
Normally, baptism is administered in a church or oratory (in
the case of a child, this would usually be the parish church
of the parents) by a bishop, priest or deacon. In the
Latin-rite Church, these are the ordinary ministers of
baptism. However, there can be cases of urgent necessity in
which a lay person can conduct an "emergency baptism." The
Rite of Baptism makes it clear, though, that such "emergency
baptisms" are licit only in very limited circumstances, such
as when a person is in danger of death. "In imminent danger
of death and especially at the moment of death, when no
priest or deacon is available, any member of the faithful,
indeed anyone with the right intention, may and sometimes
must administer baptism" (Rite of Baptism, No. 16).
The Dec. 10-16, 2009, issue of the Catholic Herald carried a
story on page 3 that could potentially create
misunderstandings and confusion among the faithful as to the
proper circumstances in which a lay person can baptize. These
proper circumstances, according to the laws of the Church,
are limited to either the danger of death (as noted above) or
to a situation wherein a priest or deacon is absent or
impeded from administering the sacrament (this might be the
case, for example, in mission territories where there is a
scarcity of priests or deacons). In the Catholic Herald
story, it appears that the children who were baptized by
their grandfather were not in danger of death, and it did not
appear that a priest was impeded from celebrating the
sacrament. Therefore, a reader might be confused as to
whether the conditions under which a lay person could baptize
were present, and whether the baptisms, although valid if
performed correctly, might have been illicit. In sacramental
theology, the term "valid" refers to the essence of a
sacrament: what makes a sacrament to be a sacrament. In the
case of baptism, validity means that the minister used the
correct matter and form: that is, water (the matter of
baptism) and the Trinitarian formula. The term "licit" refers
to what Church law prescribes concerning the administration
of the sacraments.
The Catholic Herald story further stated that the pastor of
the grandfather's parish would not baptize the grandchildren
because "the parents would have to agree to raise the
children as Catholic," but the grandfather "could do it and
it would be as valid as if the pope had performed the
baptism" (Catholic Herald, "From Pressroom to Newsroom"). As
written, such statements are misleading. First, the Code of
Canon Law is clear that only in danger of death may a child
be licitly baptized against the will of the parents (Canon
868, §2). Second, in order for a child not in danger of
death to be baptized licitly, one or both of the parents (or
a guardian) must consent, and there must be a founded hope
that the child will be brought up in the Catholic Faith (cf.
Canon 868, §1, 1º, 2º). Third, once the
children's grandfather had baptized them, those children were
incorporated into Christ and became members of His Mystical
Body, the Church (cf. canon 849), and bound to observe the
Church's life, teachings and discipline - just as they would
have been had a priest or deacon baptized them.
Some might wonder why the Church has such rules specifying
that a lay person can administer baptism only in a few
limited circumstances. The reason is simple: because of the
importance of baptism, both sacramentally and juridically,
the Church wants to ensure that everyone who desires to be
baptized (either personally, if an adult, or through their
parents or guardians, if a child) receives the sacrament
validly, with the proper matter and form, and that the
conferral of the sacrament is properly recorded. The proper
recording of sacramental reception is important so that there
can be objective proof that a person was baptized and thus
capable of receiving the other sacraments.
Baptism not only cleanses a person from sin (both original
sin and any actual sins the person may have committed) and
makes that person an adopted son or daughter of God; the
sacrament also confers upon the one baptized a new status as
a member of Christ's faithful, the Church. Therefore, the
Church has always taken care to ensure that the sacrament of
baptism is properly administered so that those who are
baptized can begin to live the Christian life, sharing in all
the rights and fulfilling all the obligations that come with
being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
How to baptize in case of danger of death
The Rite of Baptism says, "All lay persons, since they belong
to the priestly people, and especially parents and, by reason
of their work, catechists, obstetricians, ... nurses of the
sick, as well as physicians and surgeons, should know the
proper method of baptizing in cases of necessity" (Rite of
Baptism, 17).
In the case of necessity (e.g., the danger of death), the
person who baptizes pours water three times over the
candidate's head, or immerses the candidate three times in
water, while simultaneously pronouncing the baptismal
formula: "N., I baptize you in the name of the Father (the
minster pours water or immerses the first time), and of the
Son (the minister pours water or immerses a second time), and
of the Holy Spirit (the minister pours water or immerses a
third time)." A lay person who administers an emergency
baptism must at least have the intention to do what the
Church does when baptizing. It is also desirable that, as far
as possible, one or two witnesses to the baptism be present.
When baptism has been administered neither by the pastor nor
in his presence, the minister of the baptism, whoever that
was, must inform the pastor of the parish in whose territory
the baptism occured, so that the pastor may record it in
accord with canon 877, §1.