A priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit recently learned that the deacon who baptized him many years ago did not say the correct words when performing the sacrament.\u00a0 Since baptism is necessary to receive all the other sacraments of the Church, Father Matthew Hood had not only been invalidly baptized, but every single sacrament he received, including Holy Orders, were suddenly rendered invalid.<\/p>\n
My sacramental theology professor posited this scenario in class while I was in seminary.\u00a0 He said, \u201cimagine a bishop somehow finds out he was invalidly baptized while enjoying some appetizers at a cocktail party.\u00a0 In his dismay he chokes and is actively dying.\u00a0 Do you perform the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick or do you baptize him?\u201d\u00a0 The underlying teaching of this extreme and unlikely scenario has become true for Father Hood.\u00a0 It would be necessary to baptize the dying bishop.<\/p>\n
A letter from Archibishop Vigneron of Detroit recently published states that \u201cFather Hood immediately contacted the Archdiocese and the proper steps were taken to remedy his situation. He was recently validly baptized. Furthermore, since other sacraments cannot be validly received in the soul without valid baptism, Father Hood also was recently validly confirmed and validly ordained a transitional deacon and then a priest.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many, this may appear legalistic and unnecessary.\u00a0 When Rome recently published a document stressing that when performing a baptism, the minister must say, \u201cI baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit\u201d rather than \u201cwe baptize you\u2026\u201d, some deemed it somewhat ridiculous.<\/p>\n
The Church takes what she teaches and does seriously.\u00a0 Baptism is not some kind of magic trick, but the Church is very precise in her rites.\u00a0 It is a way to ensure that things are done in a uniform manner and no abuses take place.\u00a0 Furthermore, the Church recognizes that she has the authority to determine what the various formulae are for the celebration of sacraments.<\/p>\n
A question remains: what about the many sacraments Father Hood celebrated during the past three years?\u00a0 The Archdiocese is working with the parishes where Father Hood was assigned so that \u201ceach individual\u2019s circumstance may be examined and rectified.\u201d<\/p>\n
A moment like this however serves as a reminder, as Archbishop Vigneron states, that \u201cGod has bound Himself\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em>the sacraments, but He is not bound\u00a0by<\/em>\u00a0the sacraments.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0We are certain that God\u2019s grace is present in the sacraments of the Church, but we are well aware that God is not limited to the sacraments.\u00a0 In the end, we have to trust that God will supply the needed graces to those who received a sacrament from Father Hood in good faith.<\/p>\n I wonder if more cases such as this one will arise.\u00a0 I wonder how many priests are looking through old family videos from the 80s and 90s to make sure they were validly ordained.\u00a0 I only have pictures of the events, so I will trust that I was validly baptized!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit recently learned that the deacon who baptized him many years ago did not say the correct words when performing the sacrament.\u00a0 Since baptism is necessary to receive all the other sacraments of the Church, Father Matthew Hood had not only been invalidly baptized, but every single sacrament he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":5544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205],"tags":[1411,1402,13,208,1408,1405,1414,1181],"class_list":["post-5542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-archbishop-vigneron","tag-archdiocese-of-detroit","tag-baptism","tag-catholic-church","tag-father-matthew-hood","tag-invalid","tag-michigan","tag-sacraments"],"yoast_head":"\n