Is our baptismal theology all wet?We seem to be of two minds about baptism. We spend much time an energy developing catechumenate processes in our parishes. We go to conferences, write articles, read books, all of which repeat the mantra that "adult baptism is normative." But when the holy water hits the font, our actual execution betrays us. It is infant baptism that governs our practice and shapes our belief. Nine-month catechumenates, catechism-based instead of lectionary-based catechesis sessions, blending of catechumens and candidates in both preparation and rites, and lack of community involvement in the faith-journeys of the catechumens all stem from a distrust and diminishment of the full power of the initiation process. We KNOW how to baptize babies. Baptizing adults is too much to handle because our parishes are too (pick one) understaffed, underfunded, undereducated, underinvolved, undermotivated. Or they are (pick another one) over populated, overly multicultural, over worked, over stressed, or over busy. Or preference for baby baptisms becomes most evident when we start talking about where and how to build our baptismal fonts. Some years ago, the argument was to put the font in our already over- crowed sanctuaries so the people could "see." Now that our fonts seem to be migrating toward the entrances of our worship spaces, there is usually some pastoral plan for moving a bowl of water from the font to the sanctuary for our baby baptisms, again, so people can "see." In this issue, ROBERT HABIGER offers a different model. He is exploring the idea of a separate baptistry, designed primarily with adult initiation at the Easter Vigil in mind. The baptistry allows for the space needed to celebrate the full baptismal ritual. Infant baptisms can take place in the baptistry, but they are seen as windows onto the normative experience of adult baptism. Not practical? Perhaps not. But neither is our theology of initiation. If we are going to be serious about implementing the catechumenate, we have to be serious about the way we celebrate the rites. Habiger's article begins on page 7. After you read it, write me and let the rest of the ML readers know what steps you have taken to make adult initiation normative in your parish. Send regular mail to: ML, 160 E. Virginia St. #290, San Jose, CA 95112. Send e-mail to: MdrnLitrgy@aol.com. —NW |