by Joel McDurmon
A French man is suing the Roman Catholic church in order to become “de-baptized.” While the church has formally recognized the man’s departure from the faith, it argues that baptism cannot be undone and thus even the names of apostates must remain on the roll of the once-baptized.Rene LeBouvier, representing the sentiments of many others across Europe, has sued to the have the state force the church to remove his name from their books. The case, therefore, could have far-reaching implications as a precedent of state interference in purely religious beliefs and practice. NPR reports,
“They sent me a copy of my records, and in the margins next to my name, they wrote that I had chosen to leave the church,” he says.
That was in the year 2000. A decade later, LeBouvier wanted to go further. In between were the pedophile scandals and the pope preaching against condoms in AIDS-racked Africa, a position that LeBouvier calls “criminal.” Again, he asked the church to strike him from baptismal records. When the priest told him it wasn’t possible, he took the church to court.
Last October, a judge in Normandy ruled in his favor. The diocese has since appealed, and the case is pending.
“One can’t be de-baptized,” says Rev. Robert Kaslyn, dean of the School of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America.
Kaslyn says baptism changes one permanently before the church and God.
“One could refuse the grace offered by God, the grace offered by the sacrament, refuse to participate,” he says, “but we would believe the individual has still been marked for God through the sacrament, and that individual at any point could return to the church.”
French law states that citizens have the right to leave organizations if they wish. Loup Desmond, who has followed the case for the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, says he thinks it could set a legal precedent and open the way for more demands for de-baptism.
“If the justice confirms that the name Rene LeBouvier has to disappear from the books, if it is confirmed, it can be a kind of jurisprudence in France,” he says.
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