Sean Reiser

Went to the Easter Vigil Service this evening. As you'd expect it was a beautiful service darkness growing into into candle light growing into light. During the ceremony there were 4 people baptized (3 children, 1 adult) and I got to thinking about the differences in Baptism in the Episcopal and Catholic faiths.

In the Catholic Church, Baptisms are done in most Churches on one Sunday a month using around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Generally only family / friends of the family are in attendance (although it's an open ceremony) because of the time of the day.

Baptisms in the Episcopal Church are slipstreamed into the regular Sunday Mass (excuse the technical term, I can't think of another term that makes sense). In some respects I think this makes more sense, part of the purpose of Baptism is to welcome the person to the church. Shouldn't the community be present to welcome the candidate?