St. Matthew’s has  instituted a new Baptism Preparation Program to ensure a greater outreach and opportunity for evangelization of our young parents. Our Deacons will meet with the couple to help ensure awarenss of the authentic meaning of the sacrament and their role as Catholic parents. This program is the beginning of the child’s journey towards full initiation into the Catholic Church. The overall focus of the program is to offer the opportunity to deepen one’s faith commitment, to better understand the gift and challenge of Christian parenting, and to come together to find support in knowing other members of our parish.  We do our best to pair the deacon who will be baptizing the child/children with you, so that you know who is baptizing your child and that the day of the Baptism is not the first time you will be meeting with him.

The process is as follows:

• When new parents call the parish office to schedule a Baptism they will provide the Baptismal information and set the date for the Baptism. Baptisms are the 1st and 3rd Sunday after the 11 AM Mass, usually beginning at 12:30 PM. There is also an opportunity for Baptism during mass on the 4th Sunday of the month, the 11:00 AM mass is preferred. We do our best to not schedule Baptism's on Holidays (Christmas, Easter, Mother's/Father's Day, Memorial Day Weekend, etc)
• When you call to schedule your Baptism our parish secretary will let you know the availability of dates for Baptism. We usually end up scheduling Baptism's 2 month's out, as the time slots fill up quickly. The secretary will do her best to accomodate your request, but please be aware we try schedule no more than 2 or 3 children at a time for Baptism.
• All families are required to attend Baptismal Preparation with one of our deacons. The only exception being if you previously have had a child baptized within the past two years and attended a class at St. Matthew's at that point. Baptism preparation classes are held the second week each month, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday evening.

If you would like information about having your baby baptized please call the parish office and we will be happy to help you with the preparations, 973-584-1101.