Is Baptism Necessary?

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> I attend a Jesuit University and I decided to take a course on the
> theology of sacraments. I found out that Catholics only look at baptism as
> a form of initiation into the church. This is one of the reasons why they
> baptize infants. I can't believe that people actually don't look at
> baptism as a part of their salvation.

[CATHOLIC APOLOGIST MODE ON]

...And when Moses told his family to walk up the ramp through that
door up there, he believed that walking through that door was a form
of getting into the ark.  Technically, that is correct, but if you
weren't on the ark when the floods came, you drowned!

Initiation into the Church *IS* salvation.  You *cannot* be saved apart
from being in the Church.

Thus, the Catholic view that baptism is initiation into the Church is
correct.  Catholics very much believe that baptism is a part of their
salvation.

[CATHOLIC APOLOGIST MODE OFF]

The Catholic Church believes specifically in the process called
baptismal regeneration: that is, the act of water baptism (whether by
immersion, effusion, or even "sprinkling" I suppose) is a sacrament,
one of the necessary acts for being saved, and occurs apart from
faith.  That's why babies are baptized: faith isn't necessary, but
water baptism is somehow a magical act that confers salvation.

The Roman Catholic Church also specifically addresses and rejects water
baptism in the name of Jesus.  According to Roman Catholic doctrine,
you must be baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost" for it to be a valid baptism.  They even have a "white
paper" of sorts saying that there's a fair chance that Mormons are
saved since they baptize "correctly," although even they consider
Mormon theology woefully wrong otherwise, whereas we Jesus-name folks
don't have a snowball's chance in Honolulu for salvation.

Richard Masoner