Help Aleteia continue its mission by making a tax-deductible donation. In this way, Aleteia's future will be yours as well.
*Your donation is tax deductible!
Taking children to church is not always smooth sailing. In fact, lots of parents can be quite anxious when their kids misbehave. We’ve tried to give some helpful tips before. However, even with the best intentions, things don’t always go according to plan, as a couple recently discovered.
In a TikTok video that has been watched by over 4.5 million people, a little boy, Sullivan, couldn’t help but let his baptism get out of hand … quite literally!
Oh, no he didn’t!
In the short video, the little boy swats the ritual book the priest is using out of his hands. The book fell directly into the baptismal font. The shock on his parents’ face expressed the horror most parents would have felt. Unperturbed, the priest carried right on with the little boy’s baptism.
The sacrament, which was taking place at Our Lady of Pompeii, in Lancaster, New York, was completed. Sullivan’s mom, Candace Williams shared with Todaythat the priest “was a champ. He picked the book right back up and kept going.”
While those gathered couldn’t help but giggle, it was actually the priest’s first baptism at the church. It wasn’t exactly a “baptism of fire,” but it will definitely be a moment he won’t forget.
The sacrament itself is a joyful event, so the laughter only added to the happiness of little Sullivan’s big day. However, the little boy’s mischief also provided people with the opportunity to comment on what had taken place. And some of the remarks showed some reassuring awareness of the Catholic Church and its rituals:
“Priest upgrades Baptism to an exorcism,” shared @tasmandog, whereas another questioned if the book had become “more holy” after its dip in the font.
Hopefully now baby Sullivan has been welcomed into the faith, he’ll continue to provide much joy for his family and his fellow Christians.
And today we celebrate...