I just heard what may be the funniest true story I've ever heard, at least one of the funniest. I heard it from a caller on Catholic Answers Live, a Catholic apologetics call-in show.
Seems this parent called with a dilemma. He and his wife had just had a baby two weeks ago, who joins their eight year old son in the family. Now the eight year old son was very devout, and loved his new brother and was very excited about him, and did what any devout eight year old who fervently loved his brother would do: He baptized him.
Now for those who are not familiar with Catholic teaching, Catholicism teaches that water baptism can be performed by anyone with the right intention using the right form, and once performed, cannot be repeated. The kid certainly intended to baptize his brother. And he used precisely the right form. How did they know? Well apparently the kid tried to do the baptism verbally in the hospital, and his father helpfully corrected him, explaining everything to him, that water was necessary, and the invocation of the Trinity, and so forth, apparently omitting the fact that they were saving the baptism for the church. D'oh! So the guests on the show concluded that it was in all likelihood a valid baptism (though they'll probably want to get an official ruling on this). Baptized by my eight year old brother. What a hoot.
What they recommended (which is what I decided too) is that they go forward with the church baptism but do a conditional baptism. This is like a regular baptism except they add "If you are not already baptized ..." to "I baptize you...". I wonder if the priest can do this sotto voce to downplay the irregularity. :-) Preferably do this before you get a ruling (likely not hard) since there is at that point still a small doubt about the validity.
I was rolling on the floor laughing when I heard this. I had to turn my iPod off to compose myself.
So I wonder what date they'll put on the baptismal certificate. :-)
Not being a parent, it's hard for me to judge how an eight year old thinks. The scenario of this happening with childish innocence strikes me as something befitting a five or six year old, maybe even a seven year old. I won't claim that an eight year old can't do this totally innocently, but they're getting kind of old. An eight year old I would argue is old enough to be capable of thinking, gee maybe this is something that mom and dad should take care of. They start to gain faculties of judgment and so forth. Of course that doesn't rule out a lapse, or maybe delayed development for this individual. I mean, kids do stuff. Just that it's cute when a five year old does it, not so cute when an eight year old does it, but if I were the father, I'd have a tough time not laughing, and a tough time punishing him. I'd have serious a heart-to-heart talk with him about good judgment and responsibility though.
