A mother of a 5-month-old is pleasantly surprised that a woman would officially baptise her child in a Catholic parish church.
The Baptism occurred last Sunday at St Hedwig’s Parish in the Catholic Diocese of Essen, in the Ruhr region of Western Germany.
I had no particular expectations on this issue. Still, the fact that a lay person, especially a woman, can baptise my daughter has excited my whole family,” said Carolin Winkler, the young mother.
With a degree in theology, Elvira Neumann is a parish animator, bereavement support person and member of a team of three lay people who, together with a priest, are responsible for running the parish.
“In the past, I did the preparation with the families, but I had to leave the celebration itself to the deacon or the priest,” she said.
“Now, I accompany the families to the end. It’s a very powerful feeling and a real honour.”
The Diocese of Essen is the first in Germany to allow lay people to baptise.
It is something that canon law allows in emergencies, and Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck said the priest shortage created such an emergency.
“We are reacting to a difficult pastoral situation,” he explained.
The move is in line with a Vatican instruction in 2020 on the pastoral conversion of parishes.
Further south, the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart announced it would soon allow lay people to celebrate the sacrament of Baptism.
The changes in Germany are not without theological debate.
The reforms are part of the politicisation and secularisation of the Church, says Fr Joachim Heimerl.
He says this is not the way to ensure the administration of the sacraments and will likely mean priests and deacons will hardly ever baptise again.
He’s predicting the laity will “seize it and defend it against the clergy.”
Heimerl is also opposed to Germany’s Synodal Path.
Lay people baptising is “a political symbol
that is only a consolation prize
and a placebo for women
who cannot be ordained priests”.
Also critical is Michael Seewald, professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Münster.
He labels the emergency measures as “fictitious”.
He warns that the move could lead to a two-tier baptism where a priest would preside at a “real ceremony”, and others will do it “on the cheap.”
The professor is labelling the move merely as “a political symbol that is only a consolation prize and a placebo for women who cannot be ordained priests”.
Catholic dioceses in Switzerland already permit lay-led baptismal services.
The ordinary minister of baptism
is a bishop, a presbyter, or a deacon, …
When an ordinary minister
is absent or impeded,
a catechist or another person
designated for this function
by the local ordinary,
or in a case of necessity,
any person with the right intention,
confers baptism licitly.