BELMAR — The children came to St. Rose Roman Catholic Church on Monday with their dolls, teddy bears, a toy dog, a stuffed animal that resembled a monkey, Mickey Mouse and even that famous purple dinosaur, Barney.
However, Jack Mannion, 7, of Wall, wanted everyone to know that his christening doll did not belong to him.
"It’s not mine, it’s someone else’s, my sister’s," Jack said matter-of-factly.
Jack was among three dozen first-graders at the parish’s grammar school who were getting a lesson about the Christian sacrament of baptism, which welcomes the recipient into the Christian community.
Some children took the lesson seriously enough that they had their dolls dressed in the christening gowns they had worn as infants.
Kristin Norkus, 7, of Neptune, said she had just gotten her doll, Krista, for Christmas, so the timing of her doll’s pretend christening was ideal.
"I’ve just seen a (real) christening," Kristin said, observing that she had witnessed an actual baptism a day earlier.
Sheila Langon, the children’s teacher, has been organizing the mock christenings for 20 years as part of her first-grade class’s religious curriculum about the miracle of Easter.
"It was just an attempt to make the sacrament of baptism more meaningful for the children," Langon said. "The Easter season is when we talk about the baptismal vow."
Later on do they take Ken and Barbie to confession? How about last rites for a G.I. Joe injured in battle by Cobra commander?
I wonder if the Pope will attend?
19 comments
Dear Jeff,
I think this is a peculiar way to have the students see the ritual of Baptism.
Anyway, Sacraments always bear the intention of the priest. I would be willing to bet that the priest has no intention of baptizing toys.
I’m not sure how I feel about that… how is making the sacrament of Baptism into a game helpful? Then again, my grandmother’s brother “played” priest as a kid and gave his friends cookies for “communion”. He has since passed away but he did become a priest.
Hmm, I wonder if they might be a little too old. Younger kids, like 4 or 5 year olds, seem to see their stuffed animals as extensions of themselves. At least I can usually break the ice with a reticent little kid by talking to their dollie. Sooner or later the kid wants to speak for him/ herself. But 7 year olds, I think, are more literal about selfhood than that.
I think GI Joe should be confirmed as a soldier for Christ.
Things must be getting better in the Church if this sort of thing is news. 🙂
ahhh, Tony The Optimist. 🙂
I remember in a CCD class using corn chips to teach kids the proper way to receive communion. I had to stop myself from holding it up and saying something like “Chipus Doriti.”
This would be a good idea if they used it to teach kids how to baptize other people (e.g., babies) in articulo mortis. One never knows…
Of course the purpose is to diminish the importance of baptism the so-called rite of initiation. If I were in that class I would argue that my doll or stuffed animal does not bear the imprint of original sin and it is therefore unnecessary to baptize her.
I hate these articles. Next week do the toys make their first Confession, I mean rite of reconciliation?
I know this parish. I know one of the priests there. He is orthodox and faithful.
What exactly is the problem here? Does anyone seriously think that demonstrating to small children what a baptism looks like is somehow tantamount to spreading heterodoxy and dissent?
May I ask precisely how anyone can say that “[o]f course the purpose is to diminish the importance of baptism the so-called rite of initiation.” To say such a thing is, to put it bluntly, sinful. It is rash judgment and detraction. It’s also snotty.
This is not Cardinal Mahony or Bishop Weakland destroying a cathedral or sowing confusion about doctrine or sacramental theology. This is a demonstration to children of what a baptism looks like. Do we really think that kids are so stupid that they can’t understand that baptism is impossible for inanimate objects?
How can anyone “know” that the priest here did not explicitly instruct: “Of course, we can’t baptize stuffed animals…” (I would be a LARGE sum of money he did exactly that.)
The reality in Catholic schools is that many parents do not take their children to Mass. Many children DO NOT see baptisms. What the priest has done here is go from a “2-D book illustration” to a “3-D physical demonstration.”
This is not heterodoxy or “sowing weeds.” This is a simple lesson.
Sheesh.
A real “Papa Bear”!
Where can I get a bear like that?
Silly question, but… Surely most of these children have attended a real baptism of a real baby??? Or couldn’t the parents make a point of taking them to one?
I don’t think I’d ever have organized a pretend-baptism of teddy bears to teach the children about the sacrament, but I wouldn’t have wigged out if I found some of the children doing it on their own. After all, most Catholic children play “Mass” at some point (with potato-chip hosts – am I right, cradle Catholics?), and that wouldn’t be much different. It seems odd to be doing it at school as a regular part of the lessons, however. Couldn’t they get a video, even if a real baptism wasn’t available? All the same, it’s so much less offensive than a lot of other things that go on in parochial schools that I can’t get all knotted up about it.
I don’t think it’s worth getting worked up about, although I think Elinor is right that a video would be better.
Margaret, I didn’t see a real baptism until I was about 10 years old. The kids are only 7, and would only remember a baptism from the last 4 years or so, and would probably not have seen one unless their parish has baptisms at the normal Sunday Mass (and as pointed out above, some of these children’s parents probably don’t take them to Mass regularly), or if the child has a sibling at least 4 years younger than himself.
I’m more concerned about the practical aspect of “baptizing” a stuffed animal. It’s one thing if it’s a plastic doll, but I wouldn’t want my teddy bear getting wet–they take forever to dry!
Sometimes when we`re doing a lesson on baptism, we do a pretend baptism with a plastic doll. If we had more time we’d go through all of the ceremony, too.
I’m the eldest child of my parents and I have five younger siblings. I’m the second eldest grandchild of my paternal grandparents, and I have ten younger cousins. SO I had many chances to watch many actual infant baptisms.
The only part of this that’s weird and creepy is that apparently some parents let the kids dress their dolls in the kid’s real christening gown!
Mine wasn’t even anything special, but I know I would have been creamed if I’d tried to take it to school, much less played dolly with it. Especially since a christening gown/catechumen robe is practically a sacramental. Heck, maybe it is one.
I have no recollection what the gown was like that I was baptized in – I was the youngest, and so never saw it after it was finally put away in mothballs – but the one I made for my children (a Vogue pattern 1474) is a honey. I saved some material for it when I made my wedding dress – fine white Egyptian cotton and Venetian lace – and embroidered a monogram on it in white. Bonnet to match, of course. I think I’ll keep it myself and lend it to all the grandbabies in turn, rather than cause dissention among the children by giving it to just one. Or shall I just make one like it for each of the children to use for his own babies, and leave the original to the eldest in my will? Decisions, decisions.
Is that a picture of your own Pope Teddy Bear?
…or is it your “sister’s”? 😉
Thanks for the chuckle!
Comments are closed.