Expert: J.M.J. West - 5/11/2008

Question
Dear J.M.J. West,

I´m a catholic but I got married in the Church of England. when my first son was born I baptized him by the church of England I never stopped attending to mass service in a catholic church neither my children. I got divorced 6 years ago and returned to my country Mexico. Now my eldest child is about to do the first communion here in Mexico but I cannot find his certificate in order to do his  communion and failed in contacting anybody in England to send me a copy of his baptism certificate, what can I do?

Answer
If I understand your situation correctly, the baptismal certificates should be kept at the Anglican Parish where your child[ren] was baptized.  

Just to cover all bases, you say you've failed to contact anyone in England, so am I correct to assume that you moved from England to Mexico?  The way you state it made me initially read this as you moved from the United States to Mexico, and were then petitioning the head of the Anglican church for a copy of the baptismal certification, which wouldn't work because they'd not have a copy, such things are kept on the local level.  Unless the parish where the baptism took place was in England, you'd have no reason to contact England.

That all said, the best bet is to work with your local parish in trying to contact that parish where your child was baptized.  If this cannot be attained, then it is possible to do what is called a "conditional baptism" which basically says "in case you weren't baptized [or not correctly the first time]."  For that you'd have to talk to your local priest.

Hope that helps.

Pax Christi,

-J.M.J. West