Amy Welborn quotes an article about the latest goofiness from the Lexington, KY diocese: Gay Couple's Quadruplets Baptized in the Lexington Cathedral.
Now, contestants, you know how our game works: as we tell the story, we'll count all sins, failures, and blunders, plus a point for each aggravating circumstance enumerated, even those that don't increase the number of acts committed.
Hm: let's see. Two guys in a gay relationship (one) brought in for baptism the kids produced by in-vitro fertilization (two) from a non-marital (three) donor (ahem, four) on a presumably paid (five) surrogate mother (six). The priest blessed both men as if parents (seven).
Actually, I don't want to be too harsh on that last point: what on earth is the right thing for the priest to do? As Pete has pointed out, canon law requires that the kids not be denied baptism due to a parent's irregular family situation, as long as the kids are going to be raised as Catholics. So the priest has to give the sacrament. Let's also suppose, for the sake of argument, that both men have legally adopted the children. So in the rite of baptism, should the celebrant treat both as fathers?
