Nowadays, the Catholic clergy will not bless a marriage or even administer baptism--considered the most necessary of sacraments--except under prescribed conditions.
The clergy were responsible for preaching, for administering baptism and Eucharist, and for distributing aid to the poor.
In setting out the "rule of faith," Irenaeus combines a recital of the mighty acts of God in creation and history with the threefold structure of the divine Name in which baptism is administered (Matthew 28 19, and the baptismal profession found in the Apostolic Tradition).
Baptism was administered both at the beginning (Easter) and end (the day of Pentecost) of the Paschal season.
Baptistery, hall or chapel situated close to, or connected with, a church, in which the sacrament of baptism is administered.
This final period usually coincided with the season that became known as Lent, and baptism was administered on Easter.
Baptism is administered to children at age eight and to adult converts and may be undertaken by proxy for those who died without knowledge of the truth.
The sacrament was originally administered as part of baptism, as it still is in Orthodox churches, but gradually evolved into a distinct sacrament.
Baptism has been recognized as an important rite throughout the history of the Christian Church, but Christian groups differ over the manner in which baptism is administered, the meaning and significance of baptism, its role in salvation, and who is a candidate for baptism.
In conditionally administering the sacrament of baptism to a Mormon convert, a Catholic priest would preface the rite by saying, "If you are not baptized, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese, said from now on all Mormon converts will be baptized as if for the first time.
