The parish priest recently watched a video of his own baptism and noticed with horror that the priest had used the wrong formula of the sacrament at the time.
The Archdiocese of Detroit in the US tries to contact anyone who may have received invalid sacraments after a diocesan priest discovered that his baptism in infancy 30 years ago was invalid.
On August 6, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated in a note explaining that baptism administered using the formula "We baptize you ..." - instead of the ancient formula of the Church: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" - is not valid and must be repeated.
Incorrect baptism formula
Parish priest of St. Lawrence in Utica, Fr. Matthew Hood recently discovered that during his own baptism, recorded on video in 1990, the priest used the wrong wording. The clergyman, knowing that the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders could only be administered to validly baptized Catholics, felt "crushed" by his newly acquired knowledge. Changing the formula of the baptism of St. it is contrary to the teaching of the Church and consequently renders her priestly ordination invalid.
Fr. Hood admitted that the discovery he made was accompanied by a sense of shock and sadness. "There was also a sense of alienation because even though I was imitating the Lord, I was not a Christian, I was not a priest, and I was not a deacon," he reported on Detroit Catholic, the archdiocese's online news service.
Invalid sacraments
As a result of an invalid baptism, most of the sacraments administered by the illegitimate ordained in 2017, Fr. Hood, is invalid, therefore Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron asked in a letter of August 22 this year that the faithful to whom the priest administered the sacraments should report to the curia in order to carefully examine each case individually. The archbishop apologized for a "human error" that disrupted the sacramental life of some of the faithful and undertook to rectify the situation.
After Fr. Hood, a graduate of the Major Seminary of the Sacred Heart, contacted the archdiocese to share his discovery on August 9. he was successfully baptized, confirmed and received the Eucharist, and after a week of retreat, he was ordained a transitional deacon and priest two days later, on August 17.
Baptisms that are given are valid
Matthew Hood's baptism took place at St. Anastasia in Troy in 1990. The ceremony was presided over by Deacon Mark Springer, who used the wrong formula at the ceremony: "We baptize you ...". The Archdiocese tries to contact anyone who may have been baptized by a deacon Springer who served at St. Anastasia in 1986-1999. The deacon is now retired and is no longer active in the ministry.
As Fr. Stephen Pullis, director of evangelization and missionary apostolate in the Archdiocese of Detroit, although Fr. Hood has been unable to successfully bless some marriages, celebrate Mass, administer absolution, confirm or anoint the sick, all baptisms conferred by him are considered valid because a priest is not required to be baptized if the correct form, matter and form are present. intention.
“Some of the things that Fr. Mateusz, were invalid, but his baptisms were important because you do not have to be a priest to perform baptism ”- added Fr. Pullis and admitted that the Church strongly prefers a priest or deacon to preside over the baptismal rite, reserving this role to others in an emergency.
“It is a grace to realize that God is not a liar. In every experience of the sacraments, even if they were celebrated in an invalid way, God was still active in some mysterious way, respecting the dispositions of those who participated in it, "concluded Fr. Hood.
Teaching of the Church
In the doctrinal document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of August 6 it was emphasized that any changes to the formula of the baptism of St. contradict the teaching of the Church, which states that "when anyone baptizes, Christ himself baptizes" (Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 7) and it is the Lord himself who acts in the sacrament conferred.
The clear teaching of the Council was recalled: "no one else, even if he is a priest, may add, remove or change anything in the liturgy on his own" (ibid., 22 § 3), and the priest must at least have the will to do what the Church does. He cannot act in the name of others but in the name of Christ, as a sign of His presence in the sacrament administered.
Another formula means a lack of understanding of the very nature of church service, which is always a service to God and His people, and not the exercise of authority that even allows manipulation of what has been entrusted to the Church by an act belonging to Tradition, recalled the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
KAI / Fr.