Infant Baptisms
Infant Baptisms
Congratulations on the birth of your child and thank you for enquiring about baptism. Please read the following guidance, which will hopefully answer the majority of your questions.
At least one parent must be a baptised Roman Catholic
In order to have your child baptised, at least one of the parents must be a practicing baptised Roman Catholic.
God parents
All godparents must be baptised Christians. At least one godparent must be a practicing baptised Roman Catholic.
You must be a practicing Catholic
In agreeing to baptise your son or daughter, the church asks that there be a realistic hope that the child being raised in the Catholic religion (Canon 868 s.2). At the heart of that religion is the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist or Mass, which Catholics are expected to attend every Sunday. If you have fallen out of the habit of regular Sunday mass attendance, now is a great time to re-engage with that. Mass times are advertised on this website and in the parish bulletin, and families with young children are very welcome at any mass. On Sunday, the 9:00am mass at St John Fisher, Marshalswick and 9:30am mass at St Alban & Stephen are both popular with young families and there is a children’s liturgy at both masses.
You must either live within the parish of St Alban & St Stephen and attend mass here or live elsewhere but attend mass here each Sunday.
If you live within the parish of St Alban & St Stephen and attend mass each Sunday, or if you live outside the parish but attend mass here then it should be possible to baptise your child here. However, if you live outside of the parish but attend mass here each Sunday, then you will need to obtain a letter of permission from the parish priest of the parish in which you live, stating that he is happy for your child to be baptised here.
If you neither live within the parish of St Alban & St Stephen nor attend mass here, you should approach the parish priest of the parish in which you live or habitually worship about the baptism of your child.
Having your child baptised elsewhere
If you live in the parish of St Alban & St Stephen but, for good reason, wish to have your child baptised by another priest or deacon elsewhere, please approach Fr Michael for a letter of permission which the parish priest of the other parish will require you to produce.
Baptism Preparation Course
Before your child can be baptised, you must complete a short Baptism Preparation Course, unless you have already completed this course recently for an older child. The Baptism Preparation Course here at St Alban & St Stephen currently consists of a single Saturday morning session which lasts for between 1.5 and 2 hours.
The Baptism Preparation Course is held in the Sacred Heart Centre, which is located towards the rear of the Church and behind the Presbytery. Courses are due to run as follows:
- Saturday 8th June 2024 at 11.30am
- Saturday 3rd August 2024 at 11.30am
- Saturday 14th September 2024 at 11.30am
- Saturday 12th October 2024 at 11.30am
- Saturday 9th November 2024 at 11.30am
- Saturday 11th January 2025 at 11.30am
- Saturday 8th February 2025 at 11.30am
- Saturday 8th March 2025 at 11.30am
- Saturday 10th May 2025 at 11.30am
- Saturday 10th June 2025 at 11.30am
Registration
In order to register for the Baptism Preparation Course and/ or to have your child baptized you will need to complete our Baptism Form. Please speak with one of the parish clergy after Sunday Mass (including the Saturday Vigil) and he will be happy to provide you with one.
All baptisms take place at 1pm on a Saturday
Unless you have previously completed the baptism preparation course it will not be possible to book a date for the baptism until you have undertaken the course.