The Sacraments - Saint John the Baptist

BAPTISM

If you would like to have your baby baptised, it is a Parish requirement that you first complete a preparation course. Please ensure that you are also registered with the Parish.

Please note: if you intend to have your baby baptised outside of the parish, then you must first seek

Fr Austin’s permission and obtain a letter of permission from Fr Austin for the priest who will be conducting the baptism.

Equally, if you live outside the Parish and wish to have your baby baptised in Andover, you will need a letter of permission from your Parish Priest at home. 

Application forms for Baptism as a pdf below or from the Parish Office.

BAPTISM COURSE EVENING

The next pre-Baptism evening course will be on WEDNESDAY JUNE 4th from 7.00pm to approximately 9.00pm in the Parish Hall. Completion of the session is required before booking a baptism. To register for the course, please email / telephone the Parish Office. Both parents are requested to attend - but not children - and you must be registered with the Parish.

GODPARENTS

 To be admitted to undertake the office of Godparent a person must:

• Be not less than sixteen years of age.
• Be a Catholic, who has received the Blessed Eucharist, has been confirmed, and who lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken. The minimum requirement is one Catholic Godparent.
• Any other person asked to act as a Godparent should be a believing, baptized Christian, ‘they may participate in Catholic Rites of baptism but obviously they cannot offer the guarantees required of the true godparent so they are called "witnesses". Those guarantees involve a commitment to foster the faith received by the child from the Church at baptism and to assist in fulfilling those duties that are implicit in the new baptismal dignity of the child, i.e. attend church’ (cann. 872-874).
• Any non-Catholic person will be entered onto the Baptismal Certificate as 'witness' provided that they have been baptised/christened into a Christian Faith. 
• Unbaptised people cannot act as Godparents or Witnesses.

The forms for registration for this year's First Holy Communion Programme (2025) is now closed.

MARRIAGE PREPARATION 

If you are planning to get married in the coming year then you must contact the Parish Office - attendance on a Marriage Preparation Course is a requirement - please contact the Parish Office for further information.This also applies if you are resident in the parish but are planning to get married in another parish. In order to complete paperwork, a minimum of six months notice of a forthcoming marriage is requested.