BURNING QUESTION OF THE WEEK:  "Why do you believe Catholic parents are obligated to baptize their children as babies?"
By Paul Dion, STL


You have all heard the expression, "cradle Catholic."  You have heard it from all levels of Catholics, from the daily Mass-goer to the Christmas and Easter Mass-goer.  You have heard it on television and in the movies, "I was baptized Catholic a few days after I was born..." 

You have also been in conversations where there was a lively give and take between those who were opposed to infant baptism and those who were all in favor of it.  It was even possible that those involved in the discussion were all Catholic! 

It could also be that you were surprised to see that your Lutheran friend was for infant baptism and your Catholic relative was against it.  You listened and shook your head in disbelief at this turn of events. 

It is true, there are Catholics who wait until there children are old enough to make up their own mind about whether or not to be baptized.  There are plenty of non-Catholics who would be surprised at this opinion.  Yes, there are Protestant communities who seriously believe in infant baptism.  Martin Luther himself never abandoned the practice of infant baptism in his break from the Catholic Church.

ParishWorld.net is asking you where you stand in this matter, and why...

So here is the Burning Question of the week: "Why do you believe that it is an obligation of parents to present their new born children to the sacrament of baptism as soon as possible after birth?"

Give us your convictions and we will join the discussion and present a wrap-up next week.     

CLICK HERE to post your comments and to read what others are saying.