[quote:3clnnicl]I have three questions: 1) I am 5 months pregnant, but my boyfriend and I are not married. Will the Catholic Church marry us after the baby is born? 2) I was baptized Eastern Orthodox Christian, but have wanted to convert to Catholicism for quite some time (my father is Catholic). Will converting be a problem since I am pregnant and unmarried? 3) Will the Catholic Church baptize the baby if we are not married? Thank you for your help.
-A.C.[/quote:3clnnicl]

[b:3clnnicl]Dear A.C.[/b:3clnnicl], The answers are quite short actually.

1. Yes, the Catholic Church will marry you anytime before, during or after pregnancy as long as you have gone through the proper marriage preparation classes. Contact your local parish priest for more information about that program.

2. No, converting is never a problem as long as you truly want to convert and you have supportive friends and/or family. I’m pretty sure you would have to go through the RCIA program and once again for more information please contact your local parish priest.

3. Yes, the Catholic Church will baptize the baby as long as you promise to raise it in the Catholic faith. I personally know someone who was not married, had a child and had him baptized. In fact the mother never got married to the father, but she had made that promise to raise him in the Catholic faith and she wanted the baby baptized Catholic. Just contact your local parish priest after the baby is born or whenever you would like to get it baptized to find out times of baptism.

I want to thank you very much for submitting your question to us because these are important issues. It is nice to see that you are very much interested in your own faith as well as the faith of your child.
-Jon Jakoblich