the apartment across the hall

43

The next day everyone woke up and got dressed for the baptism of Brooklyn's cousin's baby.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see you in a suit." Brooklyn said to Brian.

"And I never thought I'd see you in a dress that covers your ass but here we are." He laughed.

"Well you look really good." She walked over to him.

"You look better." He kissed her.

Vinny walked into the bedroom and interrupted them. "Ew, gross. It's time to go guys."

"Next time you might try knocking." Brooklyn said as they all went downstairs.

They got in the car and started on their way to St. Michael's Catholic Church. When they pulled up to the church, Brian eyed every little thing, it was so foreign to him. He was the guy who ripped pages out of the bible on stage, he thought that if everyone knew that they'd probably douse him in holy water and start performing exorcisms.

Brooklyn's dad was watching him in the rear view mirror. "Brian you're not Catholic are you?"

"No sir, I'm not. In fact I'm not very religious at all, this all just reminds me of my childhood."

"So you were raised Catholic?"

"My dad was Catholic but I went to church with my mother. I went to Christian school until 10th grade when I got kicked out."

Brooklyn hit his leg.

"I see." Her father said as he parked the car.

They all got out and went into the church, luckily Brian didn't burst into flames. All the family mingled until the priest announced that it was time for the ceremony to begin.

The parents of the child walked to the front of the church holding the baby in her white baptism gown.

The priest began, "Baptism is an important and beautiful thing, it is a welcoming into the Christian family and it's the infusion of the grace of the holy spirit of Jesus."

"Oh my god." Brian said under his breath.

The priest began the ceremony which included multiple prayers and scriptures. Finally they moved to the fountain and the priest began to pray and pour the water over the baby's head. Then he anointed the baby with oil, after which he recited another prayer. He brought forward the mother and prayed over her, then the father and prayed over him, then he prayed for everyone and the ceremony was over.

"Wow." Brooklyn said. That's exactly what Brian was thinking except in a different way. "That was beautiful." She said.

"Baby, you want to do that to our daughter?" Brian asked.

"Well yeah, do you not want to?"

"Whatever you want, we can talk about it later."

As they were walking out of the church, Brian went to talk to Vinny and the priest went over to talk to Brooklyn.

"I see we have a little one on the way." He said.

"Yes, she'll be here in two months."

"And will she be baptized?" The priest asked.

Brooklyn looked over at Brian across the room. "I hope so."

"I do too, we could certainly use another soldier in the army of God." He smiled.

"Father, I'm not married. We're engaged but we're not married, and I know the church is against it. What do you suggest I do?"

"Well you know you face excommunication, but it is never too late to seek God's council. I suggest you get married as soon as possible, repent, and have your child baptized."

"Can I still have her baptized if her dad doesn't approve?"

He looked over at Brian then back at Brooklyn. "It depends on the priest. Guidelines say that for an infant to be baptized, there must be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion. If that hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be delayed. The goal is to incentivize the parents to attend mass so that the child can be baptized."

"I see." Brooklyn sounded defeated, knowing there was no hope of Brian ever joining the Catholic church or attending mass.

"Your family have been devout members for years, I would perform the baptism but only under the condition that you start attending mass regularly and meet with me for council every few weeks. It's also important that you bring the child once she's born."

"Really? Would we both have to attend or can it just be me?"

"Hmm let me pray on it. But I understand you've moved to Florida right? So attending mass regularly would be impossible?"

Brooklyn sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Thank you for your time, Father." She joined Brian and Vinny near the door of the church.

"You ready to go babe?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, I'll be in the car." She walked past them.

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the research I had to do for this lmao