"For years, a Catholic priest used one wrong word during baptisms. The church now says the rituals were invalid.
Time and again, pastor Andres Arango poured holy water on the heads of his parishioners during baptismal ceremonies, performing the Catholic sacrament that signifies the reversal of all past sins and the birth of an innocent person.
“We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Arango, a priest in the Diocese of Phoenix, repeated during myriad ceremonies.
But Arango misused one word that eventually compromised the validity of all of those rituals: Instead of saying “I baptize you,” he used the word “we,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has announced in a news release.
Arango’s incorrect word nullified all of the baptisms the priest performed using that language, a probe conducted by the diocese recently revealed.
“If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized,” the diocese said on its website. “You will need to be baptized.”
“It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula,” Arango said in a letter published on the Diocese of Phoenix’s website. “I deeply regret my error and how this has affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere.”
After it was reported to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that Arango was using the wrong word, a “careful study” found that “all of the baptisms he has performed until June 17, 2021, are presumed invalid.”
Any baptisms Arango performed after June 17, 2021, are presumed valid, the Diocese of Phoenix said, and there is no need to repeat them.
According to the Diocese of Phoenix, Arango “has not disqualified himself from his vocation and ministry” and will continue to help those who were incorrectly baptized."
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“We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Arango, a priest in the Diocese of Phoenix, repeated during myriad ceremonies.
But Arango misused one word that eventually compromised the validity of all of those rituals: Instead of saying “I baptize you,” he used the word “we,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has announced in a news release.
Arango’s incorrect word nullified all of the baptisms the priest performed using that language, a probe conducted by the diocese recently revealed.
“If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized,” the diocese said on its website. “You will need to be baptized.”
“It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula,” Arango said in a letter published on the Diocese of Phoenix’s website. “I deeply regret my error and how this has affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere.”
After it was reported to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that Arango was using the wrong word, a “careful study” found that “all of the baptisms he has performed until June 17, 2021, are presumed invalid.”
Any baptisms Arango performed after June 17, 2021, are presumed valid, the Diocese of Phoenix said, and there is no need to repeat them.
According to the Diocese of Phoenix, Arango “has not disqualified himself from his vocation and ministry” and will continue to help those who were incorrectly baptized."
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After first reading this I was a bit puzzled. Having fashioned their god as all-loving, all-knowing, and understanding wouldn't Catholics expect him to recognize Arango's honest mistake here and grant "total annulment of the sins of one's past and the emergence of a totally innocent person" * to all those be baptized? I mean, one little, essentially inconsequential, word nullifying a pretty important religious rite? Then the more I thought about it the sadder it became. Perhaps they would not. Perhaps Catholicism is pretty much blind to reason, and so hide bound to centuries old dictates, dogmas, and decrees that nothing is ever questioned. Essentially, "Just keep your mouth shut and nod in agreement."
That about it? A true Catholic never questions anything? If you're a Catholic, what doubts have you had about your religion's tenets, edicts, and such?
*The meaning of Catholic baptism: https://www.britannica.com › topic › Baptism
.