The good news, I suppose, is that my in-laws are back-to-church, more or less weekly. Well, maybe it isn't fair to say that they are "back" to church since they never really were regular attendees or even members anyplace. The religion bug came 'round through their daughter-in-law who was always rather devout and, now, their son believes in some capacity. And they attend the same Baptist church.

My mother-in-law grew up Baptist in Geneva, NY, not dancing, not smoking, not drinking and not playing cards. She still doesn't drink but she dabbles in the other vices and has added casino gambling. My father-in-law's mother was a saint as far as I can tell. Whenever I would visit her in the nursing home, usually on a Sunday afternoon, she would inquire whether we had been to church and when her grandson and I said that we had been to St. Joseph's, she would pause graciously and insist that it didn't matter where you went so long as you went. But, of course, it does matter where you go and I'm sure she thought so too.

Now, her eldest, Jimmy, was devout and active in their denomination but, perhaps in reaction to that, my father-in-law never cared for religion. And, as far as I know, still really doesn't care for it but he goes to church because he likes the people and the pastor. Liking the pastor seems to be all important. It's hard for me to grasp that although, to be fair, I have nearly always liked the pastor(s) in my home parishes with the exception of Father Valentine. And, for some reason, I actually started to like him towards the end but I am happy to be rid of him. I mean, he was a nice man and never said anything erroneous but his emphasis was rather old-fashioned and he was the only priest that I ever heard say anything negative about non-Catholic Christians. Oh, and he said that we deserved 9/11 because of abortion and other affronts and offenses.

The only thing about this Baptist pastor, from my father-in-law's perspective is that he is too political. During our visit with them over Christmas break, I learned precisely what my father-in-law meant by this: the guy supported Kerry. Well, half the country did, so I don't know what's so unusual about that.

Just before Christmas, my mother-in-law expressed to me her consternation over their new pastor's request (practically a demand!) that they be baptized, preferably at the Christmas Eve candlelight service. Hardly any church in the South held services on Christmas Day (Sunday). As she told me, it would be her third time being baptized! And she remembers the other two occasions. She's also pretty sure that her husband was baptized at some point in his past. So, they are rather put off by their new pastor's insistence on it. And I have to think that the man has a poor understanding of the ritual to command that my in-laws go through it again.

I don't know how it works on the other side of the aisle but we try to keep good paperwork on the administration of the sacraments. After Hurr. Kat., pastors were scrambling to recover sacramental registries from their parish offices. One would hope that there would be off-site duplicates of such paperwork. But, even without paperwork to back up their claim, a pastor ought to accept the word of some people that he's willing to admit into his congregation. When they tell him that they have already been baptized, he ought to move on.

Now, I admit that I have a weakness for baptisms, more than weddings and funerals combined. There was a baptism at my church just this past Sunday during Mass. The rite is shortened when it occurs within the context of Mass and I prefer the prayers of the stand-alone rite, personally, but it gets the job done. And, adult baptisms at the Easter Vigil, fuggetaboutit. I sit near the back so that I can get into the narthex quickly and get a good view. There's just something wonderful about the joy, something overwhelming about the grace, something palpable about the Spirit at such times. Geez, I'm getting excited and looking forward to the upcoming season of Lent and Easter.

But, back to baptism paperwork: actually, the certificate saved my life because when Chris's brand-new social security card failed to arrive in the mail and the SSA suggested to me that it might have been stolen along the way ("A common problem, unfortunately," in the words of one SSA agent I spoke with), I used his baptismal certificate to prove identity. His birth certificate merely demonstrated existence and was inadmissible as proof of identity. Now, how much ID is a two-month-old gonna have, you gotta wonder?! Times are tough. And I had to appear in person at the Neptune office. The wait time was about two hours plus an hour there and back. And they would not communicate his brand-new number to me in person. I walked out of there empty-handed (and so disappointed). I had to wait for the card to arrive in the mail (and I was fearing theft again). So, needless to say, we didn't get his E*trade brokerage account opened by year's end. Still the Halliburton stock is performing well for him in '05. There's something to be said about being married to a cold-blooded capitalist.