Local priest’s invalid baptism had ripple effect on sacraments, archdiocese says

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My wife says that this is in the realm of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin”. I don’t think it’s that far, but it is legalistic.

Jesus fulfilled the law and set us free, I thought.
God may not be bound by the Sacraments, but the Sacraments are bound by what God defined them to be. Baptism of desire isn’t a consolation prize, it describes God imparting the same graces of baptism if they never had the chance. It is not, however, baptism, just like spiritual communion isn’t like receiving the Eucharist.This isn’t legalism, this is charity. When someone is baptized, they should get precisely that.
 
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Well, I thought my situation was the most extreme. I was wrong.

The Priest who presided at our wedding was secretly married! But, our marriage is valid. He ultimately decided to be with his family and was laicized.

My wife says that this is in the realm of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin”. I don’t think it’s that far, but it is legalistic.

Jesus fulfilled the law and set us free, I thought.
But he was still a priest. Married men can be validly ordained, this is a regular pattern in the East and does happen in the West in certain circumstances. If he was not ordained when he attempted marriage, his attempt at marriage did not invalidate his ordination. He was acting illicitly but not invalidly
 
That article doesn’t really address my point. Even Pope Francis said we have rules and have to follow them. Not to mention the ruling by the CDF took place under him.
 
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That article doesn’t really address my point. Even Pope Francis said we have rules and have to follow them. Not to mention the ruling by the CDF took place under him.
Yeah. I’m just railing. Maybe rebelling. It just seems to be overly legalistic to me. I understand proper form.
 
Yeah. I’m just railing. Maybe rebelling. It just seems to be overly legalistic to me. I understand proper form.
Everyone has a right to receive the Sacraments properly, both validly and licitly. It shouldn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, educated or not, male or female. Our actions have very real consequences, good and bad. No one should have to question whether their baptism was like everyone else’s because Father said “we”, or milk was used instead of water, or God’s name was never invoked. We all begin our Christian lives the same way under the same principles. And the law protects our right to have exactly that.
 
Fr. Hood laments that he was not even a Christian. Would he not at least have had an implicit baptism of desire?
Yes, if he had died before this all came out, the baptism of desire would have applied to him, since he would have wished to be baptized if he had known he was somehow not.
His other sacraments would have still been invalid though.
 
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18 . Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
"Now what He says is like this: it cannot be that it should remain unaccomplished, but the very least thing therein must needs be fulfilled. Which thing He Himself performed, in that He completed it with all exactness.
And here He signifies to us obscurely that the fashion of the whole world is also being changed. Nor did He set it down without purpose, but in order to arouse the hearer, and indicate, that He was with just cause introducing another discipline; if at least the very works of the creation are all to be transformed, and mankind is to be called to another country, and to a higher way of practising how to live." – St. John Chrysostom, Homilies
Christ is the eternal word, and his perfect fulfilment of the law and every inspired part of it, as a covenant between humanity and God, endures until his return. He gave us a new law, and a new covenant, and following its inevitably tedious demands, because of its material existence, is not legalism. We worship in “spirit and in truth” but we do not abrogate the law or isolate the law from the spirit, and it is the responsibility of the descendants of the Apostles to safeguard the doctrines of the church by the office and power entrusted to them.
 
Look Paul, I know it is frustrating and I already went on a rant in the thread when it first came out. The Church left a question open for literally decades and now apparently takes the position it can’t retroactively grandfather the past victims of this in. From a legal standpoint, this is highly annoying. They should have moved on this issue way, way, way sooner for damage control.

However, we do have rules and people need to make a good faith effort to abide by them.

For those who don’t spend all day reading Catholic news online, got baptized in good faith and are maybe unaware of this whole megillah, the Lord will provide.

I hope this is the last time we will hear the words of baptism being tweaked to “better include the community” or some such rot.
 
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I don’t see what is so complicated about all of this. Everyone acted in good faith, and even as much of a moral and theological hardnose as I can be sometimes, I believe in a God Who can supply what is lacking in any situation — not to suggest that his Masses were valid, they weren’t, but if the faithful needed graces, they got those graces, some way, somehow.

The relevant points, as I see it:
  • Any baptisms he conferred were valid. Even an atheist can validly baptize.
  • Any marriages he witnessed were likewise valid. As far as the spouses technically not having followed canonical form, this could be remedied by the bishop conferring a sanatio in radice for all marriages Fr Hood witnessed. There have to be records — one hopes they are computerized and can be pulled up by doing a data search. One blanket declaration, making reference to the individual marriages, done deal.
  • I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that his Masses would have to re-celebrated, solely for the reason of honoring the Mass intentions behind them. I’m sure there are priests in less-developed countries who would dearly love to get those Mass stipends, and no, I don’t think Fr Hood should have to repay those, I think the diocese could surely come up with those funds to give to the priests who end up celebrating those Masses. We’re talking three years’ worth of Masses, assume $10 stipend per Mass, celebrated every day, just a little over $10K total.
  • Confessions shouldn’t need a do-over. Just mention the fact of the matter (i.e., that you didn’t receive a valid absolution, not any culpability for it) the next time you go to confession. And we are all getting to confession at least once a year, right?
  • Anointing of the sick, do-over neither necessary nor possible. That one’s easy.
  • If he confirmed anyone, yes, that’d have to be done over. A priest could handle that in a matter of minutes.
  • And certainly he didn’t ordain anyone.
 
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Tis_Bearself:
As long as it’s not the Huey Lewis song. (Not a fan of the Huey)
Frowny Face

Have seen him live.
Huey Lewis and the News make it a point to reach out to people with special needs, and that alone makes them one of my favorite groups. It’s just simple, bright, happy pop music, and doesn’t profess to be anything else.

There is an article in SFWeekly about this, written in 2005, but it contains not only the “r-word”, but other even more disturbing language, so I can’t link to it. If you want to read it, Google it. SFWeekly is not known for being discreet with its language. It’s still a great article.
 
It’s quite possible that Huey and his band are very good, kind people, and they have achieved a great success with their music.
I still don’t care for it. Personal taste.
 
As far as the spouses technically not having followed canonical form
Can you provide an example? I am still trying to find an example of a marriage that would be invalid strictly on the basis of Fr. Hood not having valid Holy Orders.
 
It’s quite possible that Huey and his band are very good, kind people, and they have achieved a great success with their music.
I still don’t care for it. Personal taste.
Fair enough. I have a similar reaction to Michael Bublé. My son likes to tease me about it.
 
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Huey Lewis and the News make it a point to reach out to people with special needs, and that alone makes them one of my favorite groups. It’s just simple, bright, happy pop music, and doesn’t profess to be anything else.
Before they got all “pop”-ey, they were a REAL rock & roll band. Chris Hayes is a wicked guitar man.
 
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HomeschoolDad:
As far as the spouses technically not having followed canonical form
Can you provide an example? I am still trying to find an example of a marriage that would be invalid strictly on the basis of Fr. Hood not having valid Holy Orders.
I was just thinking of the fact that a priest or deacon is the ordinary witness to a marriage, and Fr Hood in reality was not a priest. I do realize, however, that the Church can and does give permission in some cases for a lay person to be the Church’s witness to a marriage. There probably wouldn’t even be a need for a sanatio in radice, but just to cover all the bases, the Church might wish to do this ad cautelam.

I’m just thankful that Fr Hood’s parents videotaped his baptism. (We did not record our son’s baptism, I just didn’t feel right about doing something like that, not a “conscience” thing but a “propriety and dignity” thing, but I have no problem with other people doing it.) Many priests played fast and loose with matters affecting sacramental validity in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and I am thankful that this nonsense is finally getting stopped. Younger priests seem not to feel the need to put their own “stamp” on the sacraments they confer.
 
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