You might think the week after Christmas Day is a little early to be talking about emptying the baptismal font. Actually, it’s late. I walked into a local church during the fourth week of Advent to see what they had done with their environment. You guessed it. The baptismal font was bone dry and covered with a purple cloth.

So I’m on a mission. I’m asking all my friends to pledge never to empty their baptismal fonts again. And let’s all get T-shirts that say: “Friends don’t let friends drain fonts.” Why is this such a big deal? Here are seven reasons.

1. The liturgical seasons are not historical reenactments

When otherwise-pastoral people empty the font in Lent, the argument goes something like this. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days. There is no water in the desert. So we shouldn’t have water in our churches while Jesus is in the desert. Okay, here’s the thing. Jesus isn’t in the desert. Hasn’t been in the desert for 2,000 years. Isn’t ever going back to the desert. Jesus has transcended the desert and all the deprivation and desolation the desert symbolizes. Where is Jesus present? Truly, really present? In the primary symbols of the assembly of disciples gathered for worship: bread, wine, altar, word, oil, fire, and…water. Lent is not a time machine that takes us back to when Jesus was absent for 40 days. As for what might be the pastoral justification for emptying the font in Advent, I haven’t a clue. But whatever it is, it doesn’t override the necessity of having baptismal water lavishly present when the assembly gathers for worship.

2. Draining the font is bad catechesis

Everything present—or absent—in the liturgy catechizes. What water teaches us is that we are a people who have died to ourselves and risen to new life. Every time we enter a church and cross ourselves with the saving waters of baptism, we teach ourselves, our children, and our catechumens that we will never die. To remove that life-giving water says that our baptism was not everlasting and eternal. We are teaching that our salvation is seasonal and occasional.

3. There is no such thing as a “fast” from baptismal water

One of the arguments for removing the water from the font in Lent is that Lent is a season for fasting. So some say that it makes sense to fast from water. Really? Maybe in some gnositc universe. But in Christianity—or even just in the ordinary material universe—water means life. No water means death. When we fast, we don’t fast from things that are good for us. We fast from temptations, from indulgences, from all that masters us that is not God.

4. Emptying the font violates church teaching

About ten years ago, somebody got tired of dipping his fingers into a font full of sand every Lent, and so he faxed a “What up?” to the Vatican. The Congregation for Divine Worship wrote back saying, “This is what you Americans spend your time on?” Well, they didn’t say that exactly, but they did say that an empty font “is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season Lent….” A balanced understanding, they said, recognizes that, in addition to being a season of penance, Lent “is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.”

5. An empty font violates the spirit of Vatican II

Related to the issue of balance noted by the CDW, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy reminded us that Lent has a two-part character.

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By recalling or preparing for baptism and by repentance, this season disposes the faithful…to celebrate the paschal mystery. The baptismal and penitential aspects of Lent are to be given greater prominence in both the liturgy and liturgical catechesis. Hence, more use is to be made of the baptismal features proper to the Lenten liturgy. (109)

And why would we want to make more use of the baptismal features of Lent? Because we have a whole group of people (the elect) preparing for baptism—the very purpose of Lent. So instead of draining the font, we should be filling it to the brim.

6. An empty font weakens the funeral liturgy

When we celebrate a funeral, we are celebrating a life lived in baptismal grace. A powerful symbol of that baptismal life is blessing the casket with living water. It is hard to see living water in a sprinkler that an acolyte retrieves from the sacristy closet. The water for blessing the casket should come from the same place in which we baptize—even in Lent. Especially in Lent.

7. Bad practice leads to more bad practice

That’s what I experienced in my church visit during Advent. Because some parishes have been emptying the font during the lenten season, one community, at lease, decided that more is better. Let’s have a dry font for both Lent and Advent. Next we may have empty fonts on rogation days or First Fridays. So let’s just stop the shenanigans now, before things get worse.

Remember: “Friends don’t let friends drain fonts.”

• Water in the font during Lent

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On this All Saints Day, I have a proposal. Let’s not rename the catechumens with saint names. Many of them come to us with saint names already, but not all of them do. As I said in The Way of Faith, I once had a child catechumen named “Pebbles.” Let’s just say the topic of renaming came up.

The reason the giving of a baptismal name is even an issue stems from the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Well, it probably goes back farther than that, but most of us don’t date back that far ourselves, so it will do for an arcane reference. The old code says:

Pastors should see to it that the person to be baptized is given a Christian name; but if they are unable to fulfill this, they should add to the name given by the parents the name of some saint, and they should inscribe each name in the baptismal register.

Long before the 20th century, the practice of the pastor insuring the child had a saint name morphed into the giving of a new name even if the child was already named after a saint. So, in fact, many of us have two saint names. And it goes on. When confirmation was split off from baptism as a separate sacrament, the tradition of adding a saint name went with it. The end result: Most baby boomer Catholics have three saint names.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law changed the rules. Now the only requirement is that pastors make sure the child’s name is not “foreign to a Christian mentality.” In other words, if you don’t name your child something like “Son-of-Satan,” you’re good to go. So we baptized Pebbles as “Pebbles.”

The post-Vatican II sensibility of the 1983 code is reflected in both the Rite of Baptism for Children and the Rite of Confirmation, neither of which include an option for giving an additional name. And the United States bishops specifically rejects the notion of giving the catechumens a new name (see RCIA 33.4).

Even so, I have to tell you, I was having a little trouble with “Pebbles” when I first realized this could possibly be the name of a future saint. Then I read this paragraph in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

God calls each one by name. Everyone’s name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it. (2158)

Pebbles loved her name, and she loved Jesus. In the end, it was a great joy to see her become one with the Lord, named for Christ with the name she had known all her life. That’s when I resolved to never rename a catechumen.

Here are some previous posts from TeamRCIA that have to do with naming:

• Choosing a confirmation name
• Should the elect choose a baptismal name?

I’m editing the October 2009 issue of Religion Teacher’s Journal, and I’ve just run across the second author who casually refers to choosing a new name for confirmation as though that’s the ordinary practice of the church.

I chose a confirmation name as a child as I’m sure most of you did. But our experience with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults has given us a renewed understanding of the unity of baptism and confirmation as sacraments of initiation. In order to reinforce (and catechize about) that unity, the proper confirmation name is the name one is baptized with.

See this helpful article by Dennis Smolarski, SJ, for a more complete exploration of the topic.

What’s your experience? Does your parish encourage children to choose a confirmation name or to celebrate their baptismal name?

• Should the elect choose a baptismal name?

1. Rehearse on the Saturday before Palm Sunday (not on Holy Saturday)
2. Catechumens and candidates are not at rehearsal; their sponsors are and godparents are
3. The pastor and the Vigil presider (if it is not the pastor) do not need to lead the rehearsal, but they need to be there
4. Rehearse with the lectors—a lot
5. Create a retreat day on Holy Saturday for the elect
6. The elect do not choose a baptismal name and candidates do not choose a confirmation name
7. Keep the focus of the Vigil on baptism
8. Begin after complete darkness
9. Build a bonfire for the new fire. Ask a boy scout. Better, ask a fire fighter (because they’re not afraid of big fires)
10. Notify the neighbors ahead of time about the fire
11. Buy a real candle for the Paschal Candle, not a white tube filled with oil
12. Don’t give individual candles to the elect until after they are baptized
13. Buy or rent a portable sound system for the blessing of the fire and candle
14. Choose music the entire parish knows well and can sing in the dark
15. The Exsultet is sung by the best singer in the parish. It is only sung by the presider (or deacon) if he is the best singer in the parish
16. The Gloria is sung by all; it is never spoken
17. The Alleluia is sung by all; it is never spoken
18. Make the Gospel procession the biggest of the year, processing throughout the assembly
19. Proclaim more than the minimum required number of readings
20. Proclaim the Romans reading from memory, looking directly at the elect
21. Baptize by full immersion
22. Chant the blessing over the water
23. Pour more water into the font as the blessing is chanted
24. Invite the children present to come close enough to the font to see well
25. Chant the names of the elect instead of speaking them when you call them forward
26. Include the names of the elect in the Litany of Saints
27. The Litany of Saints is only sung if there are candidates for baptism
28. If you baptize someone, confirm them, including children
29. Use a handful of Chrism for each confirmation; rub it in, don’t wipe it off
30. Plan the ritual so the communion of the newly baptized is the climax of the liturgy
31. Just before saying, “This is the Lamb of God,” call the newly baptized forward, by name, and speak a short, poetic reminder “of the preeminence of the Eucharist, which is the climax of their initiation and the center of the whole Christian life” (RCIA 243).
32. Plan a reception for the newly initiated following the liturgy
33. (click on comments to add another best practice)
34. (click on comments to add another best practice)
35. (click on comments to add another best practice)
36. (click on comments to add another best practice)

For guidelines on how to celebrate the Easter Vigil, get a copy of The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum. Click here for more information.

I recently read this line in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults:

The sacrament of baptism cannot be repeated and therefore it is not permitted to confer it again conditionally, unless there is a reasonable doubt about the fact or validity of the baptism already conferred. If serious investigation raises such prudent doubt and it seems necessary to confer baptism again conditionally, the minister should explain beforehand the reasons why this is being done and a nonsolemn form of baptism is to be used. (480)

One thing I find interesting is, this is in the section for the Reception of Baptized Christians and not in the section on initiation. There’s good reason for that. Before the Second Vatican Council, most Catholics figured that being baptized in a Protestant tradition was reason enough for “prudent doubt.” Almost everyone who was received into the Catholic Church from another Christian tradition was rebaptized—just in case. In fact, there was no Rite of Reception until after the Second Vatican Council.

No more indiscriminate conditional baptisms

While there may be a few curmudgeons around who still doubt the validity of Lutheran holy water, most of us are onboard with the church’s teaching that the use of water and the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” are sufficient for a valid baptism. So the text about conditional baptism is more or less a stop sign to those who might still be tempted, “just to be sure” to conditionally baptize anyway.

What is more common these days is, once in a while, we wind up with a candidate for initiation who either can’t remember if he was baptized or cannot find any documentation that he was baptized. In those instances, we start to wonder if a conditional baptism is appropriate.

And that brings me to another interesting point. If we really have serious doubts that the person was baptized, and the candidate himself cannot remember if he was baptized, why don’t we just all agree he is not baptized? Then he would enter the catechumenate and be treated just as all the other catechumens.

Proof of baptism

On the other hand, what if he does remember being baptized but cannot prove it? Well, the bar for proof here is pretty low. If his 98-year-old great aunt Mabel will say she was at the baptism, that’s good enough. Or a snapshot from a cousin’s photo album will also work. Any indication the baptism took place is enough justification to assume it did. But what if the candidate cannot come up with even the slimmest of proofs? Well, in that case, you have to determine how reasonable your doubt is. If you have reasonable and prudent doubt, the RCIA says you are to “confer baptism again conditionally” using “a nonsolemn form.”

Interesting thing three. The RCIA gives no ritual for “a nonsolemn form.” The RCIA goes on to say your local bishop is supposed to decide what is and is not included in the nonsolemn form for your diocese, but I’m guessing he has two or three other things on his plate to get to before he gets to this. So what should be included in a nonsolemn form? This is where we really have to put on our RCIA hats and remember what we have been teaching the catechumens about baptism all this time.

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QWe have a catechumen who would have been initiated at the Easter Vigil last month, except her husband’s annulment had not come through in time. Now it has come through. She has been in the catechumenate for almost two years now. Can we celebrate initiation outside of the Easter Vigil? What about the Rite of Sending and the Rite of Election? Would we do the Scrutinies within class? Is there a format to follow?

AYour catechumen’s case falls under “unusual circumstances,” which are described in paragraphs 26-30 in the RCIA. See especially paragraph 29, which says Election is to be celebrated six weeks before baptism, and there should be sufficient time for the Scrutinies and Presentations.

If you follow these guidelines, you should be able to celebrate all the rites to the greatest extent possible, knowing some compromises will have to be made.
For example:

• Celebrate the Rite of Election at a Sunday Mass six weeks before you plan to celebrate the Initiation sacraments. You need to get the bishop to delegate authority to the pastor to do this. (Or maybe the bishop would come to the parish to preside himself! See paragraph 29.)
• You would not do a Rite of Sending because you aren’t sending your catechumen anywhere. However, you can adapt this rehearsal outline for the Rite of Sending for the celebration of the Rite of Election in your parish.
• Click here for a handout here on the Rite of Election that you might want to adapt to give out to your parish assembly.
• It might be pastorally best for your Sunday assembly if you move the Scrutinies and Presentations to “convenient weekdays” (see paragraph 20), with as many people from the parish as care to come, and this may include the team and the other participants in the process. Click here for a rehearsal outline for the scrutinies.
• You would then want to celebrate the Initiation sacraments on a Sunday (see paragraph 27).

It is important to strive to give your catechumen the fullest experience of the rites possible. These rites have value even if they are done on a modest scale, with a small assembly. She will only be baptized once in her life (we hope!). She deserves to experience everything the rites have to offer.

Has anyone else had experience with celebrating the Initiation Rites outside of the Easter Vigil? Click on the comments button below and tell us about it.

What do I wear?! That’s a question I get often when I’m planning liturgies. Whether it’s the confirmation candidate, the newly-ordained, or even the bishop, himself, we have a natural concern over what to wear.

The baptismal rite in the RCIA gives us at least one answer: Put on Christ. Therefore we physically clothe the newly baptized with a white garment. As we do so, we say them:

You have become a new creation
and have clothed yourselves in Christ.
Receive this baptismal garment
and bring it unstained to the judgment seat
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so that you may have everlasting life. (RCIA, #229)

This white garment should then be:

• white (although another color may be used according to local custom, cf. RCIA, #229)
• unstained
• dignified
• fitting to the person’s height and size
• preferably new
• preferably theirs to keep.

It should not be:

• stained
• dingy or ragged
• wrinkled
• flimsy or small
• a dalmatic (vestment worn by a deacon)
• a chasuble (vestment worn by a priest).

Nor should you add a stole to the garment. This and the last two items above are reserved for the ordained. (Read what the United States bishops say about the baptismal garment.)

One option is to sew your own garments for your elect. This can be a ministry of the parish and a creative way to involve more people in the ministry of initiation. Invite especially the homebound who have sewing skills and those who prefer to serve “behind the scenes.”

A simple and elegant pattern for a baptismal garment can be found in the appendix of The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum, by Gabe Huck (Liturgy Training Publications, 1992). You can also purchase a pattern from the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Syracuse here.

Other options can be to gift each neophyte with an alb, the common ritual garment used by any baptized minister. (“Alb” comes from the Latin word, alba, which means “white.” The alb is worn by any liturgical minister, from the altar servers all the way up to the bishop, and serves as a reminder of baptism.) This would be an appropriate gift from the godparents, parish, and catechumenate team. A white choir robe can also work. An alternative to a full-length alb or choir robe, and a less expensive option, would be a surplice (without the cassock), such as this example.

If you sew your own baptismal garments or purchase special garments for your neophytes, send us your best pictures and we’ll post them up here.

The Easter Vigil is coming—that most amazing liturgical celebration at the center of our faith that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. We who have been working, praying, planning, collaborating, and sacrificing for the good of our catechumens and candidates are now focused on how to plan for the great liturgy of the year. We want it to go well. We want it to be “right.” And we want it to speak powerfully of the very mysteries we celebrate.

And so, many of us turn to rehearsal as the key to success. Our catechumens in particular are nervous, excited and filled with anticipation of their immersion into the waters of baptism and their first feast at the Table of the Lord. If they know just what to do, when to do it, what to say, and how to participate in the various aspects of the Vigil liturgy, surely everything will go well. Right?

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I recently conducted a catechetical session for a parish that is planning to build a new baptismal font. To begin, I asked those who came—a rather large group of about ninety adults and teenagers—to recall a memorable experience of baptism they either took part in or witnessed. Everybody had one! They shared warm, enthusiastic memories with each other, and some of the stories were shared with the large group too. This was clearly a group of people who loved their parish and had a high regard for the sacraments and for the church.

Their response to the next exercise, however, was telling. I asked for a show of hands in answer to the following questions: What stood out in their memory? The people? The action? The words? The emotions? The water? Hands went up for each and every item—except the water. The water did not stand out for anybody in that room, among all the good memories they cherished.

Clearly, they needed a new font.

But their response to the exercise got me thinking. Where are our powerful memories of baptismal water—that primary “sign” of the foundational sacrament of the whole Christian life? If our sacramental system is going to survive in this century as a living organism and not just a museum piece, there has to be a core of real-life experience at the center of it. Are we etching the sacraments in the deep places of the soul, in today’s church?

Water has been for me the centerpiece of a whole liturgical experience that qualifies as “awe-inspiring” or “spine-tingling” as Edward Yarnold, SJ, once called it. I can still see the light shimmering on the water of the glorious font at St. Paul the Apostle church in New York as we gathered around it for Easter Vigil baptisms. The completely drenched appearance of the newly-baptized at St. John Cathedral in Milwaukee comes to my mind; I can see them dripping, smiling, triumphant. I remember the astonishing depths of the water in which my husband-to-be was baptized at St. Ignatius Loyola church in New York—he was immersed in the water three times, each time diving in deeper than the last, until finally the pastor and sponsor thought they’d lost him! These are powerful memories. For me, the stories of creation and crossing the Red sea found a touchstone in the waters of these fonts—waters that were breathtakingly beautiful, dangerous, and a place where miracles happen.

You don’t get the same effect standing around a punch bowl. Yet I’m afraid that something the size of a punchbowl, or even smaller, is what most Catholics call the font.

What do you remember of baptism at this year’s Easter Vigil?

Are you getting ready to initiate the Elect in your parish at the Easter Vigil? Make sure they (and you) know what they are signing up for. In his book, The People’s Work, Frank Senn says:

The purpose of proclaiming the word and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to form a community of priests who will offer a sacrifice of praise and prayer for the life of the world.

He notes that the worship of God is the purpose for which all other things are done in the church and that the mission of the church is to go find more worshipers who will perform true worship.

Is that message getting across to the Elect? Well, yes and no. According to the U.S. bishops’ report on the implementation of the the RCIA, Journey to the Fullness of Life, 54 percent of those who are initiated through the catechumenate process continue to regularly participate in Mass and in parish life after Easter. The good news is that is much higher than the participation rate for the average Catholic. The bad news is almost half of those who go through the process stop participating. While we are doing well, there is lots of room for improvement.

So how is your parish doing?