I have a grandmother wanting to get her grandchildren Baptized. She has permission from their guardian for Baptism. Their ages are 5,7,8. Can we just do Baptism for these three children?

The grandmother can be the Godmother and work to have the kids educated in the faith.  She is not sure at this time about other sacraments but is willing to keep working with the kids whom she has every other weekend. I’m not sure of the faith of the guardian. What would you advise – anything you can think of that will help.

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A: I’d defer this to your pastor. In my view, the decision on “catechetical age” should be made individually. Some children older than the first communion age need more formation, so you could argue for giving them just baptism and then prepare them for confirmation and first communion later with their classmates. But if they are ready for first communion preparation, then they should all receive all the sacraments together. Alternatively, even the 5-year old could be enrolled in the catechumenate with the others if the pastoral judgment is that s/he could be prepared for all the sacraments by Easter. It’s rare, but some 5-year olds are pretty sharp.