290 Dimensions of Baptism
should be reserved for candidates who are as yet unbaptized and who are
preparing for baptism as believers. Those already baptized as infants who
are engaged in the making of a personal confession of faith for themselves,
or the renewing of baptismal vows, should be regarded not as catechu-
mens, but as participating in a 'catechumenal process' (§3.13-15). This
latter term can be used for any pattern of Christian formation, and so the
baptized and unbaptized can share together to a certain extent in the same
process, while taking seriously the baptismal status of the candidates. The
Toronto Report is emphatic that 'baptism is the full and complete rite of
initiation into the church', and so it follows that no further rites are needed
before admission to communion (§4.2). However, it also recognizes that
'the journey of the baptized in their exploration of the life of faith is a
process punctuated by failure and forgiveness, repentance and renewal'
and that such moments may be marked by 'other rites of commitment'
(§3.19, 40). If persons have 'continued within the life of the church
without a deep personal grasp of the reality signified in baptism' then 'an
opportunity for them to renew their baptismal commitment may be
provided through a rite of confirmation or reaffirmation of faith' (§2.10).
The report suggests that this rite does not have to be the traditional form of
confirmation. It could be any form of reaffirmation of faith, and it might be
repeated several times during life as needed; it might well coincide with a
rite marking the entrance upon adulthood, but it might not.
We see here a language of process for Christian nurture ('catechumenal
process') employing terms of growth and development, and allowing for
various ritual expressions of the journey of faith. But—except for the one
reference to the eucharist noted above—there seems a deliberate avoid-
ance of the notion of a 'process of initiation'. Initiation is located in the
moment of baptism, followed by a process. Here it is in full accord with
the earlier report on 'Christian Initiation' (the 'Ely Report') of 1971,
which is perhaps the first Anglican document of modern times to affirm
baptism as 'the one and complete sacrament of Christian initiation'. While
the whole of life is a 'progressive realisation of what baptism effectively
declares in a single sacramental moment', the report insists that 'there can
be no place for any further degrees of initiation, since nothing can be
added to baptism'.^24
In between these two reports, however, a different Anglican tone sounds
in the response of the Church of England to BEM. It approves 'the insis-
- Christian Initiation, paras. 69, 77-78 (pp. 27, 30).