Lay baptism becomes the rage in Germany despite Vatican prohibition
Osnabrück diocese allows baptism by lay people - including volunteers
Not only clerics can baptise - but lay people are generally not allowed to. According to the will of the Vatican, it should remain so. But shortly before his resignation, Bishop Bode put a new baptismal order into effect, as has now become known.
In the Diocese of Osnabrück, lay people are now allowed to administer baptism. In the current official gazette of the diocese (Thursday), the "Provisional Diocesan Regulations for the Extraordinary Authority to Baptise Children by Non-Ordained Persons", which was put into effect by Bishop Franz-Josef Bode before his resignation, is published. The extraordinary authority to baptise can be granted to both full-time and voluntary lay people if they have the necessary theological and human abilities. The order is initially limited to a trial period of three years.
The preamble of the order emphasises the unity of sacramental pastoral ministry and the administration of the sacraments. Commissioning lay people opens up the opportunity to "strengthen the credible proclamation of God's will for salvation". Non-ordained full-time and voluntary workers are already involved in baptismal catechesis, in the organisation of baptismal services and in accompanying the baptised and their parents. "All this happens in the concrete society and life situation on the ground, through closeness to people and to human reality. In order for the permanent and unconditional relational will of God to become life-forming, culturally and socially plausible forms of expression and mediation are needed," according to the preamble.
Commissioning for three years
The order itself provides that baptism can be administered by lay people if they have also undertaken baptismal catechesis and preparation. In principle, full-time pastoral workers are considered suitable to be commissioned with the extraordinary authority to administer baptism; among volunteers, those with many years of experience in baptismal catechesis are especially considered. "Appropriate human, spiritual and liturgical competence as well as a connection to the life of the parish are required." The liturgical training must be at least at the level of leading celebrations of the Word of God. The commissioning is granted by the bishop at the request of the parish priest after consultation with the parish council. It is limited to three years. Baptism is administered according to the ritual "The Celebration of Infant Baptism" of 2007.
The order invokes the Synodal Way. In March, the concluding fifth Synodal Assembly had adopted the action text "Proclamation of the Gospel by Lay People in Word and Sacrament", in which, among other things, a consultation process on the administration of baptism by lay people was decided. At the end of March, Rome announced a rejection of the plans envisaged in the action text. In a letter to the President of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Bishop Georg Bätzing, the Prefect of the Liturgy, Cardinal Arthur Roche, saw no scope for the preaching of lay people in the Eucharistic celebration and baptism by lay people.
Rome sees no sufficient shortage of clergy in Germany
Canon law provides that only clerics, i.e. bishops, priests and deacons, are ordinary ministers of baptism. Only in the absence or prevention of an ordinary minister may baptismal catechists or other appointed persons also baptise as extraordinary ministers. In an emergency, anyone can baptise. In his letter, Roche saw no need for extraordinary ministers for Germany: "Circumstances connected with the absence or prevention of an ordinary minister - to be understood in a similar way to the celebration of marriage [...], according to which an ordinary minister cannot be reached within a month - do not seem to exist in any diocese in the area of the German Bishops' Conference, if the data of the Pontifical Yearbook on available clergy are taken as a basis."
Osnabrück is not the first German-speaking diocese to allow baptism to be administered by lay people. At the end of 2022, Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Rottenburg put a decree into effect that allows lay theologians to administer baptism. In spring, the Diocese of Essen had already commissioned the first pastoral and parish workers to administer baptism. In the Swiss diocese of Basel, lay people have been baptising for years, and since 2019 they have also been doing so in parishes that are not led by lay people.
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