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Catholics - baptism

Expert: Michael Clark, Ph.D. - 2/8/2007

Question
Hi. I asked a question last night about baptism and it was answered (thank you). My problem, I went to my rcia leader with the answer and she was not in agreement. I don't know where to turn ,this is really upsetting me. I am finished my rcia inquiry last monday. When I started I believed I was unbaptised. Last week the topic of our rcia discussion was forgiveness. I gave this serious thought and after much prayer decided to call my dad who I haven't spoken to in 20 years. I'm very glad I did. He told me that I had been baptized in the Unitarian church as an infant(1970). He couldn't remember the name of the church , he wasn't a member for very long. I have researched records from all the churches I can find and haven't been able to find anything. The answer provided last night was that i could get a conditional baptism. I WAS SO HAPPY. When I told my leader that I could find no real documentation of baptism she said that I would have to just go through the whole process of the catechumen. I'm a little upset that she one-never mentioned the conditional baptism (neither did I ) but 2 that my father telling me was just not good enough. It's somewhat insulting to me . I feel very uncomfortable with going through another baptism, now that I know the truth. I'm just at a loss. I'm very committed to the catholic faith and have been attending mass for over a year. Both of my daughters are going through their first communion at my church this year as well. Please help me , I need to have this figured out by Fri feb 7. thank you so much for your time. God bless you.

Answer
Hi... I wouldn't let it upset you. Human disagreements and uncertainties happen all the time. God, however, is watching the whole show and knows exactly what is happening. God would know your sincerity.

Off the top of my head I'm not sure if a Unitarian baptism would be recognized by RCC or not. Some baptisms RCC recognizes and others it doesn't. A conditional baptism is not an affront to God or you. Several adults were baptized when I went through RCIA. You might want to follow these links to understand what conditional baptism means, just in case you haven't been correctly informed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_baptism

http://www.catholic.com/library/How_to_Become_a_Catholic.asp

I hope this helps.

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