Las Presentaciones: A Vibrant Hispanic Tradition

This principally Mexican tradition of the presenting of a child to God, and to the Church, stems from a strong desire by parents to ask for divine protection for their newborn, and thanksgiving for a safe childbirth, as infant mortality … [Read more...]

The sacrament of baptism as a participation in the death of Christ

To be baptized in Christ is to be baptized into his death as well as his Resurrection.

The Easter season is ultimately a time for rebirth, expressed most dramatically at the Easter Vigil by the life-giving waters of baptism. To impart new life, however, baptism must destroy the old life of sin and our fallen aversions to … [Read more...]

Hope for the salvation of infants who die without baptism

Editorial, August 2010

A constant theological problem, at least since the time of Augustine, is the question of the salvation of infants who die without baptism. Many solutions to the problem have been proposed, such as: they are in hell but not seriously … [Read more...]

The Disintegration of the Primitive Rite

Christian Initiation: Baptism in the Medieval West. By J.D.C. Fisher (Hillenbrand Books, 1000 E. Maple, Mundelein IL 60060, 2004; 1-847-837-4542), xvi +220 pp. PB. $24.

A reprint of a 1965 edition first published in London, this work is sub-titled “A Study in the Disintegration of the Primitive Rite of Initiation.” This primitive rite integrated baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist into one ritual as the Ea … [Read more...]