Preist slaps crying baby in the face at baptism

[Amarok]

Yeah that kind of messed up . I doubt he will suffer ant serious consequences though .Because we have respect "genuinely held beliefs " apparently .

[Rev. Rye]

My one concern with the scenario is that the priest is obviously an older man.  Many factors could have been involved, and something tells me that it was more involuntary than voluntary.

Well, in Catholicism, baptism is generally held to be the one thing keeping the baby from eternal damnation, and, according to the Catechism, "The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth." They may not have been immediately browbeaten into it, but they were probably conditioned into just going with it.

[Silver]

My one concern with the scenario is that the priest is obviously an older man.  Many factors could have been involved, and something tells me that it was more involuntary than voluntary.

Well, in Catholicism, baptism is generally held to be the one thing keeping the baby from eternal damnation, and, according to the Catechism, "The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth." They may not have been immediately browbeaten into it, but they were probably conditioned into just going with it.

No.

I mean, as an older man, the involuntary action that was misconstrued as a "slap" could have been a direct result of the aging process.  Clearly, he's getting up there in age.  Older people are not always in complete control of their bodies.

[Rev. Rye]

Well, in Catholicism, baptism is generally held to be the one thing keeping the baby from eternal damnation, and, according to the Catechism, "The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth." They may not have been immediately browbeaten into it, but they were probably conditioned into just going with it.

No.

I mean, as an older man, the involuntary action that was misconstrued as a "slap" could have been a direct result of the aging process.  Clearly, he's getting up there in age.  Older people are not always in complete control of their bodies.

Why didn't you say it was the slap that was involuntary? I myself have a couple involuntary tics, and if that's the explanation, I can certainly understand it. That said, one would think he might have mentioned something about it in his explanation.

[chimp3]

The nature of the believer/ clergy relationship is one of subservience. The fact that the parents did not punch the priest out is evidence of that!

That was exactly my first thought.  Only religion could make a parent hesitate to react when someone slaps their baby in the face.

Moral of the story: If a priest slaps your baby, lunge punch him in the face!

[Silver]

No.

I mean, as an older man, the involuntary action that was misconstrued as a "slap" could have been a direct result of the aging process.  Clearly, he's getting up there in age.  Older people are not always in complete control of their bodies.

Why didn't you say it was the slap that was involuntary? I myself have a couple involuntary tics, and if that's the explanation, I can certainly understand it. That said, one would think he might have mentioned something about it in his explanation.

You know how sensitive people can be as they get older.  He's probably inwardly fretting, thinking it's time for him to be placed in a nursing home.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

The nature of the believer/ clergy relationship is one of subservience. The fact that the parents did not punch the priest out is evidence of that!

Some things go with religious rituals so when they happen there's no reason to fly off the handle.  That's like getting upset when the guy who does the circumcison gives the boy his first blow job.  It's what the parents signed up for.

[Rev. Rye]

I don’t think I expressed my thoughts clearly.  I wasn’t implying that the baptism itself was some kind of wrongful, traumatic antecedent.  I don’t think that.  If that were the case you’d have to argue similarly that everything nurses have to do to newborns after delivery is equally as harmful.  To me it seemed like he was crying because he was scared (and I certainly could be wrong as I was wrong often with my own two little ones 😛), but I’m not saying that means the baptism ritual is abusive in its own right.  My point was more to the fact that a baby, who was already distraught and crying, got a slap to his face instead of comforting arms.  That is what’s so heartbreaking to me.

Yeah, unless you check on it, it can be really hard to tell what kind of cry a baby is doing, as you yourself have pointed out, especially since, at that point in its development, it's the only communication it can even do at that point. And I don't know exactly what stimulus would have triggered a cry of fear until the slap (except maybe the fear of an unfamiliar place.)

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Boy, that was the most violent caress I’ve ever seen! 🤔

There's an awesome metal band or song title there.

[Losty]

I didn’t watch the video, I read the article though. How awful

[Chad32]

My one concern with the scenario is that the priest is obviously an older man.  Many factors could have been involved, and something tells me that it was more involuntary than voluntary.

Well, in Catholicism, baptism is generally held to be the one thing keeping the baby from eternal damnation, and, according to the Catechism, "The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth." They may not have been immediately browbeaten into it, but they were probably conditioned into just going with it.

Because apparently some christians believe god will send babies to hell, unless some ritual is performed that they're too young to understand?