Question:
Answer:
Canon law states that parents are obligated to see that their infants are baptized early. It does not say that parents are required to show three months of tithing envelopes before their child is baptized:
Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptized within the first few weeks. As soon as possible after the birth, indeed even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child and to be themselves duly prepared for it (can. 867 §1).
Perhaps the required offering envelopes is to ensure that the parents bringing their child to baptism will be a part of parish life, thus demonstrating a well-founded hope that the child will be brought up in the Catholic faith. However, making tithing a prerequisite to infant baptism is not a law of the Church, it’s a parish rule.
I recommend you speak with your priest about your situation. Ask him to waive the offering envelope requirement with a promise to use church envelopes in the future.