Congratulations on the newest addition to your family! We are excited that you are considering the importance of faith in both your child’s life and your own, and that you desire nothing less than sainthood for them! We look forward to assisting you with your child's first step toward a life of faith and holiness.
Baptisms are typically the second Sunday of the month, at 12:00pm. It is expected that families would attend that Mass. In most cases, parents must be registered as parishioners at the Church of St. Michael prior to baptism. There is a limit of six children for each date. Special arrangements will be made if more than one child from a particular family is to be baptized.
The Church of St. Michael also welcomes families to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism for their child during one of our Sunday Masses. Please contact the parish office if you would like to consider this option.
Preparation class for the Sacrament of Baptism is held on the second Thursday of each month at 5:00pm. The class is taught by the parishes' clergy. If possible, both parents are encouraged to attend the class.
This class is for families who are celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism for a second or third child. The focus of this preparation is on the family and strengthening the role of the parents as the primary givers of the faith. The class is held on the second Thursday of each month at 5:00pm with it being led by John Masterson, Director of Faith Formation.
The rite of baptism for infants begins with the parents asking the church to baptize their child. The bishop, priest, or deacon, in turn, makes the sign of the cross on the child and invites the parents and godparents to do the same. A lector, or the priest or deacon, then reads a passage from Scripture. Following the reading, the priest or deacon anoints the child on the forehead, lips, throat and chest with holy oil. The anointing is to protect the child from spiritual harm.
Everyone present at the baptism is invited to make a profession of faith and reject evil. The parents and godparents make this profession on behalf of the child and promise to provide for the child’s religious formation.
The family is invited near the baptismal font. The celebrant (bishop, priest or deacon) blesses the water. Usually the parent holds the child over the baptismal water font as the celebrant says, “[Child’s name] I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” All present respond “Amen.” At the threefold prayer, the celebrant three times pours water over the child’s forehead. The ritual of immersion or washing helps us understand that our sins are buried and washed away as we die with Jesus, and we are filled with divine light and life as we rise from immersion in the water or are cleaned by the pouring.
Following the immersion, the celebrant (priest or deacon) anoints the newly baptized with the sacred chrism (a perfumed oil), so that united with God’s people, the child may remain forever as a member of Christ, who is priest, prophet and king.
After the anointing with chrism the child is given a white garment, a symbol that the child is clothed in Christ’s protective love. A lit candle is given to the child’s family to remind the child and all of us that as baptized people, we are to be lights for our world.