Apostasy, is it possible to get rid of baptism?

Like many other people, my parents had me baptised in infancy. I never consented to it - it was and still is, a common custom in Christian community (even among those, who are not practising).

It doesn’t do me any harm, technically, but as a pagan, it feels incongruous; I don’t want to be associated with that religion or institution at all. I yearned to formally disassociate from the Roman Catholic Church, and I found a way. Apostasy.

What exactly is apostasy? It’s a formal way to cut away from the Church (for example, because you’re a pagan). Therefore, to answer the question in the title - no, it won’t make the fact that you were baptised disappear. It was done, and you would need a time travel machine to change that. This means your name will be forever in their books, but with a note of the apostasy (and you always repent and return - they can hope). In our country, it has only symbolic value, but there are countries (like Germany or Poland) where the number of Church members generates money for the Church.

How to do it?

The theory is that the person goes to/writes to the parish where they were baptised, and they arrange everything. Hopefully, this is how it usually works, but from my personal experience, it’s a bit more complicated…

Let me give you a timeline describing how it went in my case:

• June 4, 2019: I have visited the parish of the Church where my parents had me baptised. After some initial confusion from the priest, who did not understand why I wanted to leave the Roman Catholic Church, he invited me in, printed out a form from the Diocese of Brno and helped me find the details of my baptism in the baptism books (my mother only remembered that it was in the summer). We filled in the form together, and I went home.
  

• July 15, 2019: A letter arrived, explaining that the Ordinary of Brno was not competent in this matter, and that I had to contact the Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Prague, in whose territory I currently reside.

• August 11, 2019: I wrote an email to the Archdiocese of Prague.

• August 16, 2019: A reply arrived that the Archdiocese of Prague could not act because my baptism took place in Brno. So ‘Head 22’…

• It took twelve more emails saying, ‘Is this a joke?’ or ‘Who is your superior?’ and so on… When they explained that the only superior to the Prague Bishop is the Pope, and I’ve asked if I should escalate to him, something changed. Finally, I got a reply that Brno should ask Prague for cooperation, but that they would contact Brno from Prague and deliver their cooperation as well as the filled-out application again.

• At the beginning of December, I called the parish in Brno, asking how it looks with my apostasy? They don’t have so many of them that they cannot sort them out, right? I was told that everything had been sorted out, and the confirmation had been mailed to me over a month ago.

• December 29, 2019: I found an email in my inbox confirming that I was excommunicated from the Church due to apostasy. It took only some six months.
  

As far as I can say, the Church’s response, treating this as excommunication for apostasy, was canonically correct. According to Code of Canon Law, Book III, The Teaching Function of the Church, Canon 751, apostasy is “the total repudiation of the Christian faith.” As a pagan, I’ve moved outside Christianity entirely rather than just disagreeing with Catholic interpretations of Christian doctrine. This makes it apostasy rather than heresy, and the formal request made it “public” apostasy, which can indeed result in automatic excommunication.

It’s just a piece of paper, but it matters to me. And if you were baptised, but don’t feel like a member of the Church, you might also want to leave. Don’t feel discouraged by my experience, but supported, as you now know it’s doable.

Side effects of apostasy

• I cannot receive Catholic sacraments (communion, marriage in the Catholic Church, etc.),
• I cannot have a Catholic funeral or burial in (by them) consecrated ground,
• I cannot serve in any official Catholic Church roles.

Post Scriptum

A friends of mine had a wedding in a Church and later got a civil divorce, but they were still maried in the eyes of the Church. Then one of them became a pagan - and that was a reason enough to ask for the Church to annul the marriage, even in their books - it just took them ten years to process it.