valid baptism

[zunshynn]

I understand that mormon baptisms are invalid because they don't intend what the Church does. But I don't get why Baptisms from other Christians are valid, because most of them don't even think Baptism is necessary. And how is it that even non-Christians can validly baptize?

[cappie]

Where did you get the idea that [i]I don't get why Baptisms from other Christians are valid, because most of them don't even think Baptism is necessary[/i]

The Canons regarding Baptism are :

Can. 849 Baptism, the gateway to the sacraments, is necessary for salva-tion, either by actual reception or at least by desire. By it people are freed from sins, are born again as children of God and, made like to Christ by an indelible character, are incorporated into the Church. It is validly conferred only by a washing in real water with the proper form of words.

Can. 850 Baptism is administered according to the rite prescribed in the approved liturgical books, except in a case of urgent necessity when only those elements which are required for the validity of the sacrament must be observed.

Can. 869 §1 If there is doubt as to whether a person was baptised or whether a baptism was conferred validly, and after serious enquiry this doubt persists, the person is to be baptised conditionally.

§2 Those baptised in a non-catholic ecclesial community are not to be baptised conditionally unless there is a serious reason for doubting the validity of their baptism, on the ground of the matter or the form of words used in the baptism, or of the intention of the adult being baptised or of that of the baptising minister.

§3 If in the cases mentioned in §§1 and 2 a doubt remains about the conferring of the baptism or its validity, baptism is not to be conferred until the doctrine of the sacrament of baptism is explained to the person to be baptised, if that person is an adult. Moreover, the reasons for doubting the validity of the earlier baptism should be given to the person or, where an infant is concerned, to the parents.

This is a difficult question because the Church is reluctant to re-baptise. I would err on the side of acceptance unless something of an un-christian nature is offered as the above canons say.

So Catholic teaching holds that it is a grave sin to baptize a person who has already been baptized. In case of uncertainty about whether a person has been baptized, that person may be baptized conditionally. Such uncertainty may result from questions about whether a church from which someone is converting to Catholicism baptizes in a valid manner. For some Protestant denominations, Catholics do not raise such questions.

In a typical baptism, the minister of the sacrament (usually a deacon or a priest, but sometimes, especially in when the baptized is in imminent danger of death, a lay person) says

I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit or words to that effect, explicitly naming the three Persons of the Trinity, while pouring or sprinkling water upon the head of the baptized, or immersing them in water.

Edited October 5, 2005 by cappie