What is Baptism?

Baptism is a sacrament, that is, a sign through which God communicates with us and give us his grace and life.  Baptizing our children means opening the way to the relationship between them and the God who is the giver of life.  Christian Baptism marks the children in the name of the God of life (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  It makes them children of God and strengthens them with the Spirit of the crucified and risen Lord so that, as member of the church, they can live in the world as God's children.

In Baptism there is a covenant of God with the life of the baptized.  God makes promises for those lives.  We parents and godparents, in the name of the whole Christian community, make a commitment to care for those lives, nourish, strengthen, an defend them as God wills.

Why to baptize our baby?

Tomas and Lina have five children.  When the first two were born, Tomas and Lina took them to be baptized and threw a big party.  But when the other three came, the couple was going through financial difficulties, and they did not baptized them.  Now Lina is realizing that the younger ones have been misbehaving and the baby is sick.  A neighbor tells her that the problem is that the children are not baptized.  Lina and Tomas find this hard to believe.

Parents want the best for their children: the best education and care.  We make all sorts of preparations at home and in the family.  We are excited, because we already love that unborn baby.  God also loves it very much.  We recall what Jesus said: "God is love."

Could a loving God become angry because we don't pour the water on the baby? Would God punish an innocent baby? That is too hard to believe.

When we baptize our baby, we are not protecting it against a vengeful God, but against the evils of a world without faith, a world of lies and injustice; a world of meaninglessness if God is not present.  Our community life in the church our faith in God, and our hope in spite of the difficulties of life are signs of goodness.

We think it is good for our children to have a reason to hope and live, to keep the faith we received in our Baptism, and to belong to the same Christian family, the church.  We truly want them to participate in the life of faith we ourselves have received and to be part of our family, the church.

We offer Baptism's ceremonies in three languages:

Vietnamese on the first Sunday of the month

Spanish on the second and fourth Saturday of the month

English  on the third Saturday of the month

Baptism requirements:

• Original child's birth certificate
• God parents information
• God parents should have all the sacraments: Baptism, 1st communion and confirmation
• God parents should be catholic married (if they are married)
• Parents and God parents should attend to a pre-baptism class
• Class is offered by appointment only

For more information please contact our parish office at (619) 280-0515