(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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Question 23: Years ago, when a mother had a baby, the mother and child went to the church for a special blessing. Does this still occur and what is the blessing?
Answer: This is called "The Churching of Women." This is a blessing given by the Church to mothers after recovery from childbirth. The rite was probably suggested by the Jewish rite of purification of women after childbirth (Lev. 12). The contrast between the two rites is most striking, for whereas the Jewish mother was blessed to be freed from a legal defilement, the Catholic mother comes before the altar to give thanks to God for the safe delivery of her child. The ceremony consists of the recitation of Psalm 23, a special blessing with the sprinkling of holy water, and prayer.
Only a Catholic woman who has given birth to a child in legitimate wedlock, provided she has not allowed the child to be baptized outside the Catholic Church, is entitled to it. It is not a precept, but a pious and praiseworthy custom dating from the early Christian ages, for a mother to present herself in the Church as soon as she is able to leave her house to render thanks to God for her happy delivery, and to obtain by means of the priestly blessing the graces necessary to bring up her child in a Christian manner. The prayers indicate that this blessing is intended solely for the benefit of the mother, and hence it is not necessary that she should bring the child with her; nevertheless, in many places the pious and edifying custom prevails of specially dedicating the child to God. For, as the Mother of Christ carried her Child to the Temple to offer Him to the Eternal Father, so a Christian mother is anxious to present her child to God and obtain for it the blessing of the Church. This blessing, in the ordinary form, without change or omission, is to be given to the mother, even if her child was stillborn, or has died without baptism. It is only since Vatican II and the late 1960s that this practice has ceased or has gone into decline in Catholic families. For more information on this practice and a copy of the rite see: http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/churchingofwomen.html
