A Catholic priest in Phoenix has resigned after it was determined that thousands of baptisms he performed DO NOT COUNT because he used one single incorrect word during the ceremony!
Wait… WHAT?!
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The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix confirmed on their website this week that any baptisms performed by Fr. Andres Arango “up until June 17, 2021” are considered invalid because of a very specific one-word mistake in his recitation for the ceremonies.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted confirmed the mistake in the statement, explaining the situation to the Catholic community in the Phoenix area (below):
“We are saddened to announce some difficult information regarding baptisms performed by Rev. Andres Arango, a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix, who also had been a member of the Eudist religious community. After careful study, it has been determined that the form [words] Fr. Andres used for the sacrament of baptism has been incorrect, and all of the baptisms he has performed until June 17, 2021, are presumed invalid.”
Holy crap! (Literally!!!) The issue here centers on one very specific and incorrect word switch.Father Arango had been stating this phrase for years as part of his baptism procedure (below, our emphasis added):
“We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
However, according to church doctrine, this is actually the correct phrase:
“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
While “we” and “I” might seem to be a very minor difference, in his letter to parishioners, Bishop Olmsted explained the severity of the situation from the Church’s point of view:
“The issue with using ‘We’ is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, rather, it is Christ, and Him alone, who presides at all of the sacraments, and so it is Christ Jesus who baptizes.”
Wow.
The Church admitted that Father Andres had apparently been saying the incorrect word since he first began performing ceremonies back in 1995. While the organization is uncertain as to exactly how many parishioners are affected, they believe the number to be “in the thousands.”
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The Diocese also notes that they believe all of the other sacraments that Arango conferred are valid. However, because baptism is “the sacrament that grants access to all the others,” the church is concerned that people may need to repeat “some or all” of the other ceremonies to make them count:
“What this means for you is, if your baptism was invalid and you’ve received other sacraments, you may need to repeat some or all of those sacraments after you are validly baptized as well.”
Clearly upset by the situation, Bishop Olmsted further wrote:
“I do not believe Fr. Andres had any intentions to harm the faithful or deprive them of the grace of baptism and the sacraments. On behalf of our local Church, I too am sincerely sorry that this error has resulted in disruption to the sacramental lives of a number of the faithful.”
Father Andres, who formerly served in Brazil, quickly announced his resignation from the church.
In an apologetic letter begging for forgiveness from the people of Phoenix, Arango wrote:
“It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula. I deeply regret my error and how this has affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere. With the help of the Holy Spirit and in communion with the Diocese of Phoenix I will dedicate my energy and full time ministry to help remedy this and heal those affected. In order to do this, I have resigned from my position as pastor of St. Gregory parish in Phoenix effective February 1, 2022.”
So crazy. According to NPR, similar discoveries were made in Catholic parishes in Detroit and Oklahoma City in the last several years.
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Here is more on the unfortunate situation in Phoenix, from ABC 15 Arizona (below):
What do U think about this situation, Perezcious readers?
Does intent matter at all here? That is, if the priest was performing the ceremony in good faith, should he and his believers be called out in this manner for mistakenly using one wrong word?! Or is the ceremony the whole point — and thus, the incorrect word usage is serious enough to invalidate all of those baptisms, as the Diocese has determined??
Sound OFF with your thoughts about this tough situation down in the comments (below)…
[Image via ABC 15 Arizona/YouTube]
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