The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world rose in 2023, while the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders, and baptisms all declined, according to Vatican statistics.
baptism
Five Sisters Take Their First Steps Toward Catholic Faith Together
Parents usually feel joy and anticipation on the day their child is baptized into the Catholic faith. Philip and Jessica Chan were no different, except they experienced those emotions five times over. The Chans watched as their five daughters — Olivia, 7, Madeline, 5, twins Camile and Eloise, 4, and Genevieve, 2 — were baptized by Father Gregory McIlhenney at St. Andrew Avellino Church in Flushing on Jan. 26.
Best Gift a Child Can Receive is Faith, Pope Says at Baptisms
When children are baptized, their parents and the church are giving them the greatest gift ever: the gift of faith, Pope Francis said before baptizing 21 infants in the Sistine Chapel.
Pope Visits Pediatric Oncology Ward, Baptizes Infant
Pope Francis used his third day at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to visit children hospitalized in the oncology ward and to confer the sacrament of baptism on a tiny infant named Miguel Angel.
Pope Baptizes Babies, Urges Parents to Teach Them to Pray
Telling parents and godparents to teach their little ones to pray from the time they are small, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel as their older brothers and sisters looked on — or got away and ran around.
Rite of Election Marks Final Prep For Soon-To-Be Catholics
Hundreds of people came to St. Patrick’s Church, Bay Ridge on Sunday, March 6, to take part in the Rite of Election — a prayer service in which those who are enrolled in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) in the Diocese of Brooklyn took an important step toward becoming full members of the Catholic Church.
Preserve Christian Identity Received at Baptism, Pope Francis says
Before baptizing 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis reminded parents and godparents of their responsibility to care for and preserve the Christian identity the infants were about to receive.
The ABC’s of Being a Godparent: How the Diocese Guides Baptisms
For the next three years, if Catholic families in the Archdiocese of Catania in Italy want to baptize their babies, they’ll have to do so without godparents.
Invalid Baptisms Possible But Rare
Catholics in the U.S. are learning about a problem most could never anticipate — the idea that a baptism could be invalid. Church leaders in the Diocese of Brooklyn acknowledged that this could happen.
Analysis: Priest Baptism Story Offers Memo for Reformers — Look Before You Leap
Robert K. Merton, a famous American sociologist, was, by all accounts, a smart guy. Among other things, he popularized the expression “law of unintended consequences” to refer to situations when a person does something for one reason, but he or she finds that it produces all sorts of other unexpected results.