Blog Category: Roman Catholicism (1 posts)

Luke J. Wilson | 21st February 2022 | Current Events

You may have seen in the news lately, a Roman Catholic priest in Arizona, USA, has apparently performed “invalid” baptism for years, well over a decade, even. Due to this, now thousands of people are stressing about whether their baptism counted or if they need to be re-baptised due to the error by Rev. Andres Arango! This has caused concern over the other sacraments these people have partaken in since their baptism, such as the Eucharist, and whether they should have even been allowed it. The Diocese of Phoenix is trying to identify people baptised by Arango so that they can track them down for re-baptism (and possibly, re-confirmation and whatever other repercussions are deemed to have come from this). What was the error so grave that the Roman Catholic Church is going to all this effort to correct? Arango said “we baptise…” instead of “I baptise…” when performing the baptisms! Did you catch that? “We” not “I”. Now, this may seem like a minor issue to many of you, and not such a big deal. And I would agree, as I don’t believe this should (or would) have made a difference in the actual act, even if theologically speaking from a Roman Catholic perspective, it’s very different. In Roman Catholicism the difference is crucial. The Vatican ruled in 2020 that it’s not the “we” of the congregation doing the baptising but the “I” of Jesus Christ, working through the priest. I agree with the principle on a theological level, and in some ways, seeing ordination as a sort-of “human sacrament” to the community etc., but I don’t believe that Jesus is not going to impart the Holy Spirit and his grace to the one being baptised just because the priest said the wrong words. This is not magic that needs the correct spell to be cast in order to make it effective. The faith and intent of all involved should suffice as far as this part is concerned. A few caveats though, as I don’t want my words to be misconstrued. There are correct wo...