Should people be baptized during this pandemic? What considerations should be made when considering the appropriateness of this? What other areas must be explored?
Baptism is the entry into the Body of Christ, the Church. It removes the stain of original sin as well as any personal sin and fills a person with God's Grace. It is necessary for salvation as Jesus Christ himself proclaims in many parts of the Bible. A person cannot receive any other sacrament from the Church unless and until they are baptized into the Church.
Since baptism is necessary for salvation, it is of utmost important to provide baptism to anyone who so chooses or to an infant belonging to Catholic parents. But during a pandemic, other considerations must be made.
My input into this situation are just my opinion and do not reflect the teaching of the Catholic Church. If you disagree with what I am saying or would like to point out anything, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.
I believe in the case of an infant being baptized, discretion must be used as to whether to proceed during the Coronavirus. I can't say a blanket statement of whether a baptism should or shouldn't go ahead at this time. If a baby is in danger of death or is in ill-health, a baptism, in my opinion, would be highly recommended. It would be irresponsible to forgo it in this circumstance.
However, if a baby is perfectly healthy and has no major issues, it may be best to wait to have the child baptized when everything is back to normal. But I think this is a prudential judgment. Again, depending on the parents, some may feel it would be good to have a child baptized as soon as possible by a priest even in the current situation. Of course, this would require a very small ceremony, and the priest may take certain precautions such as not touching the child.
So again, it's a matter of prudential judgment.
What about in the case of a child who is in danger of death? According to the Church, baptism can be administered by anyone in cases of emergency. They must simply have the requisite intention (i.e. intend what the Church does vis-a-vis baptism) and use the correct Trinitarian formula. If these conditions are met, the baptism is valid.
The coronavirus pandemic would not satisfy the condition of a child being in danger of death and thus allow emergency baptisms to be performed. That is because although there is a pandemic in general, a particular child may not be at risk of death whatsoever. The lack of availability of the sacrament of baptism throughout a particular diocese likewise does not satisfy the conditions for performing an emergency baptism.
The same rules would apply in the case of an adult seeking baptism, otherwise known as catechumen. Catechumen can normally foresee the date of their baptism well in advance. If something like this pandemic breaks out and sacraments by and large are cancelled, they will probably have to make new arrangements to be baptized at a later time. Again, as long as they are not in danger of death, they may want to hold off on being baptized.
As mentioned in previous blogs, although certainly not a prerequisite, if a person were to opt to partake in a sacrament such as baptism, confirmation, or marriage during a pandemic, it is highly likely there would be very few people in attendance. In some areas it would be illegal. Again, although this is not an impediment to the validity or licitness of the sacrament, it is still a consideration as these sacraments as meant to be celebrated by the community and not in private.
What are your thoughts? Sorry I did not have the definitive answer, but I think it's up to each person and family to decide in their own individual circumstances with the help of God to whom they should pray when discerning. I would tell people not to become discouraged or disobedient to proper authority.
Please provide your thoughts in the comment section below. Until next time!
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