Chapter 6. The new forms of baptism, marriage, penance, and extramunction.

The Catholic, whether he be regularly practicing or one who goes to church for the great moments of life,

finds himself asking such basic questions as, What is baptism?

It is a new phenomenon, for not so long ago anyone could answer that.

And anyway, nobody asks the question.

The first effect of baptism is the redemption from original sin.

That was known from father to son and mother to daughter.

But now nobody any longer talks about it anywhere.

The simplified ceremony which takes place in the church

speaks of sin in a context,

which seems to refer to that which the person being baptized

will commit during his or her life, and not the original fault that we are all born with.

Baptism from then on simply appears as a sacrament which unites us to God, or rather makes us members of the community.

This is the explanation of the quote-unquote right of welcome that is imposed in some places

as an initial step in a first ceremony. It is not due to any private initiative since we

discover plenty of variations upon baptism by stages in leaflets of the National Center of Pastoral Liturgy.

It is called deferred baptism.

After the welcome comes the progression, the seeking.

The sacrament will be administered, or not administered,, the seeking. The sacrament will be administered or not administered,

when the child is able, according to the terms used, to choose freely, which may occur at quite

an advanced age, 18 years or more. A professor of dogmatic theology highly este esteemed in the church, has established a distinction

between those Christians whose faith and religious culture he is confident he can verify,

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