Baptisms take place on certain Sundays of the year which are themselves, or as near as possible to, main festivals and seasons such as Advent, Christmas, Lent (Mothering Sunday), Easter, Whitsuntide, All Saints-tide and others.
The reason for this is to make it easier for people to connect with Christian festivals which are fairly familiar. Baptisms take place either at the Parish Eucharist or at a later time on the same morning.
Our practise is to invite couples who enquire about baptisms to bring their child to a Thanksgiving service (these are held on the first Sunday of most months of the year). This is part of the preparation process. As part of this process, parents and god parents are asked to attend a further 'Preparation Evening' when they will meet the parish priest and his team who are there to help them understand what having a child baptised means.
This is an informal meeting during which parents and god parents have a chance to think about, and discuss why they want their child to be baptised.
