Selective Baptism

          In what is seen as his second most-boneheaded statement of this year, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz declared that he will not allow the baptism of babies whose parents are not wed in accordance to Church rites.  He justifies his statement by saying parents should be good examples of Christian piety first before introducing their children to Christian life - and this is not possible if the parents have not solemnized their union through the sacrament of matrimony.

          Somewhere along the lines of his reasoning, the Archbishop lost sight of the fact that he is actually advocating the punishment of infants for the sin of their parents.  This is worse than excommunication in the sense that an infant is prohibited by a Church official from being part of God's family - a patent abuse of the authority God bestowed to the Church when Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter.

          To be fair, it is indeed hypocritical on the part of unwed parents to have their children be baptized.  But this is hardly a reason to withhold the gift of the Holy Spirit from an innocent child who has absolutely no control over the circumstances of his/her conception.

          Thankfully, he seems to be alone in his opinion on how Church authority can be exercised in this particular case.  Many clergymen have already voiced disagreement to Archbishop Cruz's prohibition, and have instead offered the much better solution of making the child's baptism an opportunity to reach out to unwed parents to encourage them to take part in the sacrament of matrimony.  The CBCP has not issued a statement on the issue, probably in deference to the Archbishop's stature in the body.  But we can be sure that he will be asked to reevaluate his judgement on the issue. 

          Oh, and just in case you are wondering, the Archbishop's top boneheaded statement of this year was when he declared that there is nothing wrong in holding gay Santacruzans.  Wow.  The Church has enough problems dealing with the right people doing things the right way for the wrong reasons.  (And even the right people doing things the wrong way for the wrong reasons.)  Now he thinks that the wrong people doing things the wrong way for the wrong reasons is ok.

photo credit:

http://www.veritas846.ph/images/Bishops/Oscar%20cruz2.jpg