The following comes from a June 5 story in Catholic San Francisco.
Catholic infant baptisms are down nationally to the lowest level since World War II – but baptisms in the Archdiocese of San Francisco are holding steady at a rate 50 percent higher than the national mean.
“We’re at a point where baptisms as a percentage of births are only 20 percent, which we haven’t had since World War II,” said Mark Gray, pollster for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. The percentage was 24.7 percent in 1943, he said. It spiked later, and then from 1995 to 2004, it was about one quarter of all births, he noted.
In contrast, in the archdiocese of San Francisco, about 30 percent of infants were baptized Catholic during most of the past quarter-century, according to an analysis by Catholic San Francisco.
Gray first noted the national trend on the CARA blog, Nineteen Sixty Four, Feb. 7, in a post titled “The Growing Mystery of the ‘Missing’ Catholic Infants.” In a follow up interview, Gray said CARA will need to do further polling to find what is behind the change.
California is among a handful of states where this drop is not occurring. In 2010, the rate of baptism was 35.9 percent in California, according to Nineteen Sixty Four….
Some who are not married might feel they do not have a right to baptize their babies, but “Pope Francis strongly encouraged his priests not to turn anyone away from baptism” when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Gray said.
To read entire article, click here.
This should send alarm bells to the city elites and true Catholic Missionaries to the City in Droves to protect ze little ones.
Hurray for the Archdiocese of San Francisco! :)
Okay? I don’t get why this was even scripted?
Well…MAYBE because the Church is facing a crisis with fewer marriages and fewer baptisms, and, every once in a while, we need to see some GOOD news about places where baptism remains strong?
Well, finally, a Pope who puts not a few bishops in their baptismal places!!! One of the errors handed to me on a platter almost 30 years ago and ranted up periodically in the USA is that baptism should not be done without anything but the textbook perfect family. This false doctrine now has been hit over the head with the Pope’s heel.
Skai,
Wrong the teaching of the Church has been that no one should be baptized unless there is a reasonable assumption that they will be raised as Catholics. That is a far cry from what you stated.
Also this article does not quote the Pope exactly. He was referring to cases where the mother is unwed; however he is not referring to cases in which there is no reasonable reason to believe that the child will be raised Catholic. He should make his statements clearer.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
So happy at least one diocese is doing it right.
Many modern priests tell parents or parent that if, for one reason or another, the child is not anticipated to be growing up as a Catholic, that the child cannot or should not be baptized. This seems to go against what Pope Francis’ instruction says.
Patrick,
CCC: ” 250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called.
The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism.
The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth. ”
On the Vatican web site, search Code of Canon Law.
Canons 849 – 878 are all related to Baptism re adults, children, God-parents and more.
Can. 867 §1. Parents are obliged to take care that infants are baptized in the first few weeks; as soon as possible after the birth or even before it, they are to go to the pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared properly for it.
Can. 868 §1. For an infant to be baptized licitly:
1/ the parents or at least one of them or the person who legitimately takes their place must consent;
2/ there must be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion; if such hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be delayed according to the prescripts of particular law after the parents have been advised about the reason.
Mothers or Fathers who are not married, can repent, and become very good Catholics.Raising their child according to the Faith.
(None of us have been without sin of some kind.)
Pope Francis never said to allow Baptism willy nilly. The words spoken at baptism of a child are very very clear.
When / if Pope Francis sees the need to change Canon Law (along with his Bishops as the Magisterium) he will do so in a formal action.
This is called an “Apostolic Constitution by the Supreme Pontiff for the Promulgation of the Code of Canon Law.”
Those Priests who would not allow repentant Parents who intend to raise their children Catholic, were wrong. – This is what the Pope was talking about.
PETE,
Thanks for the clarifying quote.
Even a Pope cannot change Sacred Tradition!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Priest: What do you ask of God’s Church for N?
Parents: Baptism
Priest (to parents): N and N, you have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so, you are accepting the responsibility of training N in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring N up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?
Parents: We do.
Priest (to Godparents): Godparents, N and N, are you ready to help the parents of this child in their duty as Christian parents?
Godparents: We are.
Priest: People of God, do you agree to support these parents and Godparents in the baptismal covenant for this child/children?
All: We do
Pope Francis rocks! Baptizing our children is so very important, it’s a ritual of birth and an entry point for the infant into a supportive life of love and responsibility. I still remember my son’s baptism to this day, and what a great celebration we had. All Catholic should be baptized, even if the parents don’t have the world’s best attendance at Sunday Mass.
My guess is the reason for California having a higher rate of baptism is the impact of the Hispanic Catholic population, which probably baptize their babies at a higher rate than Caucasians.
good cause,
Again I ask, just what is your so called good cause?
A child should not be baptized unless the parents or parent express an intention to raise that child in the Faith. Read what PETE and Mbûkû Kanyau Mbithûka write above.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
This has everything to do with the extensive Hispanic and Filipino immigration INTO the archdiocese and nothing to do with effective evangelization BY the archdiocese. A better statistic would be to compare the number of First Holy Communions with the number of baptisms, and then compare the number of Confirmations with the number of Baptisms. I think you will find a ratio like this:
4 Baptisms for every 2 First Holy Communions for every 1 Confirmation.
That’s pretty standard across AmChurch. Prove that our teens who grow up in the archdiocese are inspired enough by Christ and His Church to be Confirmed and there is something to crow about.