Baptism Course update for AGM March 2020
The baptism course for parents wishing to have their children (up to the age of 7) baptised, is offered four times a year (April, July, October, January) running over two consecutive Saturday mornings from 10am to 1pm. Parents are enrolled onto the next available course after contacting the parish office to apply. Father Bart will usually meet the family to discuss arrangements prior to the course.
The course is designed to guide the parents through the baptism service in a practical but also prayerful way. We reflect on the rich and beautiful symbolism that is threaded throughout the rite of baptism. Parents are given time to consider their own faith journey and how God’s love for them is reflected in the love they have for their children.
This year we have seen fewer families on the baptism course; with 6 sets of parents attending the course in April 2019; no families in July and October, then 2 in January 2020. This is compared to 22 families the previous year. Our next course dates were planned for April but since we are in a national quarantine situation, these dates are likely to be postponed.
After the campaign to share skills in the parish last year, we had six volunteers who were interested in joining Liz and I to form a baptism catechist team. We had a training morning with most of the team in November, where we ran through the course content and shared our resources. A rota was then put in place to cover the course dates for the coming year, so that everyone would get the opportunity to participate in delivering the course.
Since the training morning, Liz and I ran the January course with two of our new catechists. Although the catechists outnumbered the parents, it was a warm and friendly atmosphere where the parents felt relaxed enough to ask questions and share their stories.
Denise Smith
Liz Simmons
Baptism Report 2022
Our formal baptism preparation sessions have not restarted yet, and I am continuing to meet up with parents individually. We need to organise a meeting with the Baptism Catechists who are still available, and willing, to help. The meeting will allow us to discuss whether we are going to return to the original format for these sessions or adopt something new.
Between May 2021 and May 2022, we celebrated 17 baptisms in the parish, one of these was at 11:00 on Easter Sunday this year, the first baptism during Mass since the pandemic hit. We also celebrated baptism for three brothers, aged six, eight and nine a few weeks ago and their mum is hoping to join our RCIA programme later in the year.
Dcn Martin