If you have ever had to enroll your children into a CCD program, the pastor or CCD coordinator would have asked for the children’s baptismal certificates. If you have ever entered a marriage preparation program, seminary, or even an institute of religious life, you would have had to present your most recent baptismal certificate prior to entry. Why all this fuss over one document? This article will explain the reasons underlying the importance of the baptismal certificate.
Access to the Other Sacraments
The obvious importance of the baptismal certificate is proof of a valid baptism. This is key since only baptized persons are considered members of the Church with rights and obligations.[i] An unbaptized person does not have rights in the Church. As Amadeo de Fuenmayor writes, ““[T]he baptized person, by acquiring the status of a member of the community to which he or she is incorporated, obtains a personality that offers two facets: being the holder of several rights inherent to the status of the faithful.”[ii]
One of these rights is the right to be admitted to other sacraments. Recall that Baptism is the gateway to the spiritual life, through which one attains access to the other sacraments. As canon 842 states, “a person who has not received baptism, cannot be validly admitted to the other sacraments.”[iii] Consider this case which occurred in the Philippines:
Case Example
A man was just “ordained” a priest in the Philippines. During the reception, the man’s mother told the bishop, “Bishop, what a wonderful day! This day almost never happened because my son almost died as a baby. I still recall when I had to baptize him with milk! The bishop quickly realized that the man had been invalidly baptized, because baptism is only done with water and not milk. Therefore, the man was not validly ordained a priest. All the sacraments build upon baptism. Thus, the bishop took the man aside to have him validly baptized, confirmed, and then receive his first holy communion. A couple of weeks later, the bishop ordained the man a real deacon and then a real priest.
If the bishop had not caught the error, the result would have been disastrous. The man would have remained a fake priest. All his potential masses, confessions, and administrations of the anointing of the sick would have all been invalid! This is because only real priests can validly celebrate those sacraments.[iv] This story reveals one importance of the baptismal certificate; It proves that one is baptized and can be validly be admitted to the other sacraments.
Legal Status in The Church
Another important reason for one’s baptismal certificate is that it reveals one’s present legal status in the Church. As foreshadowed in the earlier section, it is a document to which one can trace his or her sacramental history. Canon 535 §2 states, “In the baptismal register are also to be noted enrollment in a Church sui iuris or transfer to another Church, confirmation, and those things which pertain to the canonical status of the Christian faithful by reason of marriage, without prejudice to the prescript of canon 1133, of adoption, of reception of sacred orders, and of perpetual profession made in a religious institute. These notations are always to be noted on a baptismal certificate.”[v] The law states that when Catholics receive sacraments like Confirmation or Marriage, the pastor is obliged to mark the reception of these sacraments in the parish baptismal register. Then, if a parishioner requests for his baptismal certificate, these annotations will be marked at the back of his baptismal certificate.[vi] In the event a parishioner had been baptized in another parish, the current pastor is to contact the pastor of that person’s former parish of baptism. Here is an example:
Case Example One
Julian was baptized as a baby at Sacred Heart Parish on Oahu in the Diocese of Honolulu. When he was 3 years old, his family moved them to Rota. Now 16 years old, Julian has just received Confirmation at San Isidro Parish. The pastor of San Isidro, following the principle of canon 535 §2, would contact the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish to inform him that Julian has received Confirmation. The pastor of Sacred Heart Parish would annotate this fact in Julian’s baptismal register/certificate.
Legal Status: Freedom To Marriage
Canon law also makes special provision that baptismal certificates identify significant changes to one’s marital status. Canon 1682 §2 describes that once the judge/s have declared that a previous marriage is null and void, the local ordinary is to note the annulment in the parties’ baptismal certificates.[vii] In grave cases, the judge/s may even add a vetitum, which is a prohibition on a person’s freedom to marry; This prohibition is also annotated on one’s baptismal certificate. These annotations serve to prevent people from contracting invalid or illicit marriages. When Church leaders request for recently issued baptismal certificates, they are looking for such information. With this in mind, consider another scenario:
Case Example
While living in Washington D.C., I meet a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model with whom I fallin love. The feeling is mutual and after some time, we decide to marry at Holy Trinity Parish in the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. The pastor requires me to present a recently issued baptismal certificate.[viii] When the pastor sees it, he notices that my baptismal certificate includes notes that I was ordained a deacon and priest in 2014.[ix] Realizing this, the pastor forbids the marriage to proceed. If I only presented my original baptismal certificate issued in 1989, the pastor would not have caught the wrong.
This scenario shows the rationale for presenting a recently issued baptismal certificate to Church leaders.[x] It is to prevent people from taking advantage of others, disobeying the law, and committing fraud. Often, the Church’s laws and obligations are born from her experience with the human condition. Presenting a baptismal certificate may seem an insignificant formality, but its great purpose is to reveal one’s status in the Church.
[i] Codex Iuris Canonici auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II promulgatus (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1983) c.96. English translation from Code of Canon Law, Latin-English Edition: New English Translation (Washington DC: CLSA, 2012). All subsequent English translations from this code will be taken from this source unless otherwise indicated.
[ii] Amadeo de Fuenmayor, “The Canonical Status of Physical Persons (cc.96-112),” in Exegetical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, English language edition ed. Ernest Caparros et al. (Chicago, IL: Midwest Theological Forum, 2004) 1/693 (hereafter Exegetical Commentary).
[iii] Canon 842.
[iv] Canon 900; Canon 965; Canon 1003.
[v] Canon 535 §2.
[vi] Ibid, §1.
[vii] Canon 1682 §2.
[viii] Canon 1067. In the Dioceses of the United States, couples who wish to marry must present a recently issued baptismal certificate (Within Past 6 Months).
[ix] Canons 535 §1; 1054. Reception of Sacred Orders is also noted in the baptismal register and certificate.
[x] Ibid. Pastors must make sure nothing stands in the way for couples to enter a valid and licit marriage.