C
Caesar
Guest
Just in case anyone here (of all places) gets the idea into their head that baptizing someone in the “Name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier” is perfectly valid, the Holy Office (oh fine, for you nitpickers, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith- but to me it will always be the Inquisition) issued a doctrinal declaration today that clears up that the matter of substituting other names for the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (such as the example I mentioned above), most often done to avoid reffering to God as a male. Simply put, these modern(ist) formulas do not constitute a Trinitarian formula, therefore are not valid.
This clarification comes after a parish priest in Australia performed thousands of invalid baptisms by using an invalid formula.
I am sure I speak for all the traditionalists here when I say I am quite dismayed. We will certainly miss all those times when our priests blessed us, or baptized our children, or absolved us of our sins in the Name of the Creator, the Liberator and the Sustainer, just as much as we will miss Altar girls, lay ministers, communion in the hand, liturgical dance and Liberation Theology.
Ok, I’ll stop now
**REPLY FROM DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ON BAPTISMAL FORMULAE
VATICAN CITY, 29 FEB 2008 (VIS) **- Made public today were the responses of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to two questions concerning the validity of Baptism conferred with certain non-standard formulae.
The first question is: “Is a Baptism valid if conferred with the words ‘I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier’, or ‘I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer’”?
The second question is: “Must people baptised with those formulae be baptised ‘in forma absoluta’?”
The responses are: “To the first question, negative; to the second question, affirmative”.
Benedict XVI, during his recent audience with Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved these responses, which were adopted at the ordinary session of the congregation, and ordered their publication. The text of the responses bears the signatures of Cardinal Levada and of Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the dicastery.
An attached note explains that the responses “concern the validity of Baptism conferred with two English-language formulae within the ambit of the Catholic Church. … Clearly, the question does not concern English but the formula itself, which could also be expressed in another language”.
“Baptism conferred in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, the note continues, "obeys Jesus’ command as it appears at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. … The baptismal formula must be an adequate expression of Trinitarian faith, approximate formulae are unacceptable.
“Variations to the baptismal formula - using non-biblical designations of the Divine Persons - as considered in this reply, arise from so-called feminist theology”, being an attempt “to avoid using the words Father and Son which are held to be chauvinistic, substituting them with other names. Such variants, however, undermine faith in the Trinity”.
“The response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith constitutes an authentic doctrinal declaration, which has wide-ranging canonical and pastoral effects. Indeed, the reply implicitly affirms that people who have been baptised, or who will in the future be baptised, with the formulae in question have, in reality, not been baptised. Hence, they must them be treated for all canonical and pastoral purposes with the same juridical criteria as people whom the Code of Canon Law places in the general category of ‘non- baptised’”.
This clarification comes after a parish priest in Australia performed thousands of invalid baptisms by using an invalid formula.
I am sure I speak for all the traditionalists here when I say I am quite dismayed. We will certainly miss all those times when our priests blessed us, or baptized our children, or absolved us of our sins in the Name of the Creator, the Liberator and the Sustainer, just as much as we will miss Altar girls, lay ministers, communion in the hand, liturgical dance and Liberation Theology.
Ok, I’ll stop now
**REPLY FROM DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ON BAPTISMAL FORMULAE
VATICAN CITY, 29 FEB 2008 (VIS) **- Made public today were the responses of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to two questions concerning the validity of Baptism conferred with certain non-standard formulae.
The first question is: “Is a Baptism valid if conferred with the words ‘I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier’, or ‘I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer’”?
The second question is: “Must people baptised with those formulae be baptised ‘in forma absoluta’?”
The responses are: “To the first question, negative; to the second question, affirmative”.
Benedict XVI, during his recent audience with Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved these responses, which were adopted at the ordinary session of the congregation, and ordered their publication. The text of the responses bears the signatures of Cardinal Levada and of Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the dicastery.
An attached note explains that the responses “concern the validity of Baptism conferred with two English-language formulae within the ambit of the Catholic Church. … Clearly, the question does not concern English but the formula itself, which could also be expressed in another language”.
“Baptism conferred in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, the note continues, "obeys Jesus’ command as it appears at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. … The baptismal formula must be an adequate expression of Trinitarian faith, approximate formulae are unacceptable.
“Variations to the baptismal formula - using non-biblical designations of the Divine Persons - as considered in this reply, arise from so-called feminist theology”, being an attempt “to avoid using the words Father and Son which are held to be chauvinistic, substituting them with other names. Such variants, however, undermine faith in the Trinity”.
“The response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith constitutes an authentic doctrinal declaration, which has wide-ranging canonical and pastoral effects. Indeed, the reply implicitly affirms that people who have been baptised, or who will in the future be baptised, with the formulae in question have, in reality, not been baptised. Hence, they must them be treated for all canonical and pastoral purposes with the same juridical criteria as people whom the Code of Canon Law places in the general category of ‘non- baptised’”.
