Unbaptized babies may be buried in mass plots

Instructor's note: submitted Feb 13

February 13, 2009

AP

February 11, 2009

http://philly.metro.us/

The Catholic Church teaches that the ritual of baptism is essential for a soul to enter heaven, and should take place as close to birth as possible. Catholic churches teach this because newborns and infants who died before their baptism were not buried on consecrated or holy ground. Catholics have long believed that children who die without being baptized are with original sin and excluded from heaven. However, the church has no formal doctrine of this. Reverend John McManus, a priest at Belfast said “We’re coming out of what we only regard as a mistaken theology of a hundred years ago.”

My analysis of this article was it did provide enough information but it could have provided more. As a response to this article, Catholic people may get their babies baptized at birth. This article can be explored from the view of a parent this happened to. A follow- up story to this article could about if this is still happening and has the number of baptizes increased for babies.

By Ashley P.