Please address the Church's teaching and reference Holy Scripture on the subject of Baptism, particularly that one cannot enter heaven unless one has been baptized. Also, please address why we as Catholics baptize our children as infants instead of waiting until later in life. What happens if a child is never baptized and dies?

Faith is the grace that leaads us to Christ but baptism provides the grace that join us to Christ, which is necessary for salvation. The practice of infant baptism is consistent with the Old Testament requirement that infant boys be circumcized on the 8th day after birth. Circumcision was a pre-figurement of Christian baptism. There are also references in the Acts of the Apostles to entire households being baptized, which would have included children, if members of the family. As to a child who dies without baptism, we leave that to God.

Thanks, Bridget

Father Echert

COPYRIGHT 2013

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