Baptism In Contemporary Roman Catholic Thought

To implement reforms decided upon at the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic church has restored the adult catechumenate as a preparation period for baptism and given it a prominent role in the church, alongside infant baptism. Like most other major Christian churches, the Roman Catholic church no longer insists on rebaptizing converts who have been baptized in water in the name of the Trinity in other churches. The theology and celebration of baptism has undergone significant development in the twentieth century, largely as a result of the liturgical movement and developments in the areas of ecclesiology, and grace and sacramental theology. At the Second Vatican Council (19631965), the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy called for the reform of baptismal practice (par. 6469), and the Decree on Ecumenism addressed baptism in an ecumenical context (par. 22). Conciliar reform resulted in two distinct rituals for baptism: for adults and children of catechetical age, the Rite of C…