Baptism
We are excited that you have made this decision for your child to walk the journey of faith together with our community.
Baptism
We are excited that you have made this decision for your child to walk the journey of faith together with our community.
The sacraments are a sign of Jesus’ presence in our lives and are a means for receiving his supernatural power, which helps us to fulfill our true calling, and lead us into a deeper way of being our true selves. They help us appreciate God’s presence within us and within our daily lives. God touches our lives through the sacraments.
Here are some things you need to know about baptism:
- At the Holy Spirit Parish,we believe that Baptism is not just a ceremony to celebrate the birth of a child. It is a way of entering into a living relationship with Jesus and becoming part of the parish community. We prefer to celebrate the baptisms during the Sunday mass as a way of including the whole community. If you would prefer to have the baptism outside of the mass, we will organise a time when you can present your child at mass so that the community can pray with you and welcome your child to the parish.
- We will need at least four weeks notice before the day of the baptism, so that we can get you connected with the preparation course.
- Baptism is the first step in a life-long journey of faith. Baptism only makes sense if there is a commitment to bring the child up in the practice of the faith by attending mass regularly and helping them to learn about Christianity. At the Holy Spirit Parish, we want to make a commitment to stay in touch after the day of the baptism to help provide you with resources that will help you teach your child.
- When you present your child for baptism, it is a great chance for you to rediscover your own faith. We run a four-week baptism preparation course that will help you to go deeper in your understanding of the mystery of our faith. This course will be run after the Sunday mass in the weeks leading up to your child’s baptism.
- If your child is between 0-7 years of age, the baptism preparation is designed to help the parents learn about the sacrament so that they can teach their child. If your child is older than 7 years of age, the baptism preparation will be focussed on teaching the child and will take a bit longer than the normal four-week course.