Detroit, Aug 26, 2020: A priest in the US city of Detroit has been left mortified after being told that his ordination has been rendered invalid due to a mix-up of the wording recited during his baptism.
The error means that, according to Catholic doctrine, Father Matthew Hood has technically been functioning as a minister without even being a baptized Catholic. Unfortunately, the mistake also means that the sacraments he administered during his ministry — including weddings, Eucharist, confirmations and baptisms — must be rendered null and void.
The critical mistake was unearthed when Hood watched back a family video of his baptism ceremony and noticed that the presiding deacon said “We baptize you” instead of the permitted “I baptize you.”
“I watched it and noticed that the deacon where he baptized us said ‘we baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. I know the matter and form of the words are central to the sacrament and whether it was valid or not,” Fr Hood told ClickOnDetroit.
He sought clarification from one of his seminary instructors, who confirmed that his baptism was invalid – the Vatican also agreed with the assessment.
“It was a full range of emotion, shocking at first. What you assumed to be true was not true for so long, assuming myself receiving the grace of the sacraments for 30 years,” Hood said.
Despite rectifying the situation by receiving the sacraments and becoming officially ordained earlier this month, Father Hood then had the burdensome task of reaching out to couples who he had previously married to ensure that they had their nuptials made official by the Church immediately.
In a statement on the matter, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit said:
“On behalf of our local Church, I am deeply sorry that this human error has resulted in disruption to the sacramental lives of some members of the faithful. I will take every step necessary to remedy the situation for everyone impacted.”
The issue stemmed from the incorrect words as used by a deacon who served from 1986 to 1999 at St. Anastasia Church in Troy, Michigan.
“These baptisms were performed invalidly at St. Anastasia Parish in Troy for more than a decade,” the director of evangelisation and missionary discipleship for the archdiocese of Detroit, Fr Stephen Pullis, told Fox 2 Detroit. “This is something you read about in seminary as a hypothetical, but this is reality.”
He added that Hood was required “to go back and be baptized anew, confirmation anew, made a deacon, then priest”.
The news comes after the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a doctrinal noted on the issue, stipulating that baptisms must adhere to the strictly unapproved wording of “We baptize you.”
The Archdiocese of Detroit has asked people who think they may have been impacted to get in touch via a designated contact form.
Source: preminerchristian.news
Have we totally lost our faith in God? God knows these baptisms were done in good faith. It makes me feel that our faith has been reduced to the idolatry of magic! What ever happened to intent? What hubris! I agree that the words used should be the same universally but, this is just too much to take.
Can’t the “we” be the deacon and God? This is ridiculous! Are we living in the 21st century?
The story of this priest shows that THERE IS NO SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Jesus said, “Sabbath is for man and not man for Sabbath”. Likewise, rules and rituals are made for the well-being of human beings.
“I baptize you” becoming “we baptize you” makes everything “null and void”. This is “absolutely ridiculous”.
My question to the Catholic Church – Does every priest celebrate the Eucharist “exactly as per the Missal”? The answer is a clear NO.
In India, only 10 to 20 percent catholic priests adhere to the Missal during the Mass. A vast majority of the priests have their “own style” – i.e. usage of words, prayers and order of the Mass”. In the similar way, they follow their own style for other Sacraments like Marriage, Holy Communion, Sacrament of the sick and Reconciliation etc.
Can the Catholic Church declare all those sacramental celebrations “null and void”???
It is shocking that for an unintended error of a mispronounced one word which occurred decades ago, the CDF of the Holy Catholic church has behaved like the Talibans and ISIS. Fundamentalism and pharisaism at its peak forgets what Jesus said: Sabbath isade for man, man is notade for Sabbath. Who will redeem us from this evil?
“The news comes after the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a doctrinal noted on the issue, stipulating that baptisms must adhere to the strictly unapproved wording of “We baptize you.”” This sentence is in itself faulty in its entirety and therefore misleading.