Watch What You Say!

Now this is one of those stories that, in my opinion, “takes the cake.”

This article talks about an Arizona priest who has been baptizing infants for over 25 years — and has been using an “incorrect” word during the sacrament!

Oh the HORROR of it! Thousands of poor little babies were never sanctified because of this priest’s poor choice of words!

Apparently, when baptizing, a priest must say: “I baptize you …” whereas this careless priest said, “We baptize you …”!!!

Fortunately, all of the other sacraments this priest conferred were valid. (Phew!) However, because baptism is the “sacrament that grants access to all the others, a botched baptism could invalidate any subsequent sacraments, including confirmation, marriage and holy orders.”

The article reports that similar discoveries were made by the “lay faithful” in Detroit and Oklahoma City, so if you –or someone you know– happens to be one of the many that were affected, it may be necessary “to repeat some or all of those sacraments” after being “validly baptized.” 

Although I have my doubts the following needs to be shared, I wouldn’t want to be remiss in my responsibilities, so let me close by adding that the Arizona Parish is:

… seeking help in identifying those in need of the sacraments and encouraging anyone who believes their own baptism was affected to call their parish for more information.

P.S. This was also shared in the article:

 (I)f a priest uses milk instead of wine during the Consecration of the Eucharist, the sacrament is not valid (because) the milk would not become the Blood of Jesus Christ.

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Image by Jercy Rhea Senecio from Pixabay