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Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

JULY/AUGUST 2001 CONFESSIONS

INFANTS AND HEAVEN

My third child was baptized two weeks after her birth; afterwards, we held a small party in our home. My parents were visiting, and my father proposed baptism as a topic for discussion. Within twenty minutes, a pointed debate had arisen over the question of what happens (or at least what may happen) to infants who die before being baptized. The question has come up before between my father and me; we disagree on the matter, partly because we begin with different texts. A solid year of reading and discussing St. Augustine while in college has led me to submit to the conclusion that said infants may be justly condemned to hell, as hard as the teaching seems. Of course, St. Augustine is not the Church. Here are the texts I brought to bear during the discussion: Beginning with the Catechism of the Council of Trent: "It is no less important to [the faithful] to learn that the law of Baptism, as established by our Lord, extends to all, so that unless they are regenerated to God through the grace of Baptism, be their parents Christians or infidels, they are born to eternal misery and destruction... That this law extends not only to adults but also to infants and children, and that the Church has received this from Apostolic tradition, is confirmed by the unanimous teaching and authority of the Fathers... Pastors, therefore, should inculcate the absolute necessity of administering Baptism to infants... as soon as it can be done with safety."

Some at the table brought up the doctrine of Baptism by desire, and suggested that if parents could give their child's assent at the baptismal font, they could also efficaciously desire heaven for them prior to the sacrament. But the phrase, "be their parents Christians or infidels" seems to deny this possibility -- surely Christian parents desire their child's salvation? The Catechism also makes this statement: "The delay [in the baptism of adults] is not attended with the same danger as in the case of infants... should any unforeseen accident make it impossible for adults to be washed in the salutary waters, their intention and determination to receive Baptism ... will avail them to grace and righteousness." Since, according to the Catechism, infants do not share this protection, it seems personal intention is essential.

And there is this from the papal encyclical Lumen Gentium: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience -- those too may achieve eternal salvation." Again, the individual will is invoked in the question of gaining salvation without Baptism by water. So also in the case of Baptism by blood -- dying a martyr's death for the Faith or for some virtue.

Next, the Baltimore Catechism: "Those who through no fault of theirs die without Baptism, though they have never committed sin, cannot enter Heaven -- neither will they go to hell... God in His goodness will provide a place of rest for them, where they will not suffer and will be in a state of natural peace; but they will never see God or Heaven." This "place of rest" -- Limbo -- has never been defined as actually existing by the Church, and is not mentioned in the current Catechism. Neither Dad nor I place much confidence in it.

Finally, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: 'sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned...' Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that ... [Adam] has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the 'death of the soul.' Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin." The phrase in quotation marks -- "death of the soul" -- is followed by a reference to the Council of Trent.

Against all this, my father put this astounding quotation from the encyclical Evangelium Vitæ: "I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion.... The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the sacrament of reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost, and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child who is now living in the Lord."

After hearing this, I found myself doing what I thought I would never do: wondering about the nature of the authority contained in an encyclical. Is the pope declaring the sainthood of millions of unbaptized aborted infants? If so, how did he arrive at this conclusion? Am I obliged to accept this statement as true? I know that the Holy Innocents -- the children ordered slain by Herod as he sought to murder the infant Jesus -- are considered to be martyrs. I wondered if the pope thought that the aborted were somehow martyrs. I still wonder.

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