BAPTISM FOR CHILDREN

Your child’s Baptism is a very important time in his/her life. At Baptism, the first Sacrament of Initiation, your child will be officially welcomed into the Catholic faith and our Church community.

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Baptisms take place on the first Sunday of each month. After you have contacted the Parish Office and filled in the appropriate application forms, you will be allocated to one of our Baptism Preparation Facilitators.

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The Sacrament of Baptism at OLR Kensington has three core components:

• The Baptism Preparation Session,

• The Welcoming Mass and

• The Baptism Ceremony.

The Baptism Preparation Session

This is the initial component and usually takes place at the home of the facilitator who has been allocated to provide you with all the necessary information. The session runs for approximately 40-60 mins. During this session, you will meet up with the other families who will be celebrating their child’s Baptism at the same time as your child. You will also have an opportunity to explore the beautiful rituals and rich symbolism that make up the Sacrament of Baptism. Your facilitator will walk you through the actual Baptism ceremony. You will be given the chance to choose prayers that will be read during the ceremony and you will be able to ask any questions that you may have, during this session.

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The Welcoming Mass

As Baptism is the welcoming of your child into the Catholic faith, we at Kensington believe that there is no better way to welcome your child into our OLR parish family than to invite you to join us for mass at 9:30am on the Sunday morning, the week before your child’s Baptism.

During the mass, your facilitator will invite you to come to the front of the church and will present your child to the congregation. You are also invited to join us for morning tea after The Welcoming Mass.

The Baptism Ceremony

The ceremony takes place at 11am on the first Sunday of each month in the church. Your family and friends will gather around your child and the godparents and be invited to participate in the ceremony by joining in with the responses in the Baptism booklet. The ceremony itself is about a half hour’s duration, depending on the number of children being Baptised at the time.