hi [b:5l947xpb]nicky_roh11[/b:5l947xpb], it’s nice to meet you. Welcome to About Catholics! ” title=”Very Happy” />

Let’s see…I’ll try to name a few things and maybe [b:5l947xpb]Benedict[/b:5l947xpb] or someone else could fill in the blanks or give more detail or give you other reasons.

One of the first “changes” would be the change from baptism by immersion to baptism by pouring water over someone’s head. As for the exact reason, I can only speculate that it is because of the case of infant baptism you do not want to dunk a baby under water because it might drown just by opening its mouth and sucking in water.

Baptisms by immersion are still done in some Catholic Churches still today, but really only for adults or people that were not baptized when they were an infant. The 2 methods are equally valid because what matters is the water, the priest and the words of institution. You can read more about that here: http://www.aboutcatholics.com/viewpage.php?story=5001

Another change is the splitting of the sacrament into 2 events. In the early church and in some countries other than the United States Baptism and Confirmation were all rolled into one. Today infants still are anointed with oil at their baptism as a sign of the seal of the Holy Spirit, but Confirmation is usually a separate event left for later in life when the person is able to choose if he or she wants to pledge to remain a Catholic. However if you are an adult and you are being baptized then Confirmation usually comes at the same time. You can read more about Confirmation here: http://www.aboutcatholics.com/viewpage.php?story=5003

Well, these are all the things I can think of off-hand. I hope other people pipe up and give some other answers. ” title=”Smile” />

Btw – is this paper for a religion class? Do you go to a Catholic school? Or are you just trying to find out more information?

Once again, nice meeting you and I hope you stick around and post some more! ” title=”Very Happy” />

[quote:3qzfvzei]The early church practiced baptism by both immersion and sprinkling (the 3000 in Acts would need sprinkling if done impromptu in one day).[/quote:3qzfvzei]

Well, they could have all just gotten in one big line and walked through the Jordan. It might have been like an assembly line baptism or something. ” title=”Razz” />