[LadyDoc]

FYI: The Catholic church will even recognize a baptism by a non believer, if the non believer does it in sympathy with the belief of the person being baptised, or his/her parent/guardian.

When we were in medical school, all students were taught to baptise infants if the mother was a Catholic. My Jewish friend baptised several very sick or dying infants.

There is still a theological debate about this (limbo for unbaptised infants is a tradition, but not a dogma, and some believe infants probably go to heaven.) but knowing her infant was baptised was and is a comfort to a grieving mother. So my Jewish friends baptised, not as believers, but as an act of charity so that the mother's religious beliefs would be honored. Usually they got the chaplain or a Catholic nurse to do it, but sometimes there just isn't time...

[austinTparty]

Actually, the notion that innocents go to "limbo" is NOT Catholic doctrine. At the preparatory classes for my children's baptisms, inevitably someone asked about this, and the priest took them to task for it. That God would condemn an aborted or newborn baby to limbo because no one had a bottle of water handy is simply nonsense; see other discussion regarding "baptism by desire" for further explanation. That being said, it obviously would give great comfort to the family of a grievously ill child to know that they had been baptised.

[DannyTN]

FYI: The Catholic church will even recognize a baptism by a non believer, if the non believer does it in sympathy with the belief of the person being baptised, or his/her parent/guardian.

Had a protestant pastor who was in a hospital one night and someone mistook him for a priest and asked him to bless him. The pastor realized this aspect of catholism and blessed the guy rather than tell him that he wasn't Catholic.