Blackburn priest refuses to baptise child (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Blackburn priest refuses to baptise child

9:30am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

Exclusive By Nafeesa Shan » Reporter

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A FAMILY was left ‘humiliated’ when a priest refused to christen their son minutes before the service was due to start.

As 50 family and friends sat waiting in St Joseph’s Church, Audley Range, Blackburn, Father David Chinnery discovered neither parent was a Roman Catholic.

He told Janine Wood and partner Andrew Craig this meant he could not baptise their five-year-old son Jamie, a pupil at St. Antony's RC School.

The couple said they felt left humiliated at having to tell their guests to leave the church.

They believe Fr Chinnery should have taken more stringent steps earlier to find out if they were Catholics.

Fr Chinnery said it was a very difficult situation but it would have been against the Catholic Church to christen the child.

The priest said he would now request to see certificates before agreeing to baptism in future.

The couple, of Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, had held meetings with Fr Chinnery, and attended the church every Sunday for mass.

Janine, 30, said although she had been born into the Church of England, she had attended Catholic schools and the Catholic church most of her life.

She said she did not want anyone to have to go through the same experience.

The full-time mum said: “I’m appalled.

“It was chaos. Everybody was asking what was going on.

“I have since spoken to friends who have had children christened and their priests have written to them in advance to confirm everything but he didn’t ever do that.

“It is important to me that Jamie is christened because I want him to have the same schooling as me.

"Father Chinnery asked if I wanted to baptise Jamie, he asked if I was a Catholic and I attended a Catholic school.

"I was born into the Church of England but he didn’t ask if I was baptised.

“We attended the church two weeks before the christening and everything was fine and that was the last time we spoke to him until the christening.”

Father Chinnery made the discovery ahead of the service on Sunday when he asked God parents Janine’s brother Keith Wood, 35, and Andrew’s sister Karen Craig, 38, which denomination they were and it transpired both Andrew and Janine were also Church of England.

Andrew, a window cleaner, added: “I felt so embarrassed and ashamed. It was an absolute shambles.”

Father Chinnery, who has been at the church since October, said he had presumed they were Catholics.

He said: “If I had gone on and baptised Jamie it would have been illegal in the Catholic church and it would have caused a bit a scandal. You just cannot do it.

“Once I knew Janine was not a Catholic I could not do it.

“It was very hard for me to walk out and tell them all and that’s what I had to do.

“They’re regular as regular can be so I can understand why they are so upset."

Lee Siggs from the Universe, the weekly Catholic Church newspaper, said that the incident was 'highly unusual'.

He said: "One of the most important aspects of a Catholic baptism is that the parents agree to bring up their child as Catholic.

"It is hard to imagine how that would happen if they were both Church of England.

"The priest should have made sure in the run-up to the baptism that everything was in order because the situation that arose is not ideal."

Catholic priest Father Jim McCartney of St Anne's church, said he had not heard of a baptism being cancelled at such short notice before.

He said it 'probably would' be normal practice to refuse to carry out the ceremony if neither parent was a Catholic.

He said: "There may be exceptional circumstances, and if she wanted to become a Catholic, that could be a way forward.

"I can understand where the priest is coming from, but at the same time it maybe should have been dealt with earlier."

A spokesman for the Salford Diocese said: "Since neither parent is Catholic, such a commitment would clearly have been impossible to make.

"There seems to have been a misunderstanding on this point.

"If either parent would like to become Catholic, then that possibility is always open to them."

Comments(95)

Little Diamond says...
10:15am Wed 17 Mar 10

I would have thought the priest should have checked things out a bit more carefully. But also the parents must share the responsibility. To say that the priest should have taken more stringent steps is ok but why didn't you two say we are not baptised catholics can you still baptise our son?