At St James, the Baptism preparation team aims to provide a friendly and welcoming face to families seeking the sacrament of Baptism for their child/children. We ‘walk’ with the families from their initial application through a preparation session and on the actual day of baptism. 

We ask parents seeking Baptism for their child/children to take part in a preparation session. This monthly event is managed by the preparation team with our Parish Priests and aims to enable parents to understand that Baptism marks the beginning of a faith journey for their child and that they will need to support the child’s growth in faith and life in God for the rest of their lives. The preparation night also ‘walks’ the parents through the ceremony, explaining signs and symbols used as well as practicalities such as when to arrive and how to hold the baby at the font and rules on photography. The team also looks after donations and sale of any candles/ white garments the family need.

A preparation team member also attends the day of the actual Baptism. Our role on the day is to prepare the church, greet the families, arrange seating, run the PowerPoint/font camera and assist the celebrant as needed.

By working with families in this ministry we aim to create a supportive link between them and the parish. Our hope is that this link will continue through families attending Mass and other activities at St James, and later through their children receiving sacraments as part of their faith journey.

Who is in the team?

Fr Jude and Fr John with Gilbert Menezes, Angela Struthers, Kathy Hudson, Roger Baatjies, Peter & Alice D’Cruz, Jasintha Bangera, Shalini Dsouza and John Fisher

John Fisher & Gilbert Menezes

Baptism Coordinators