The mistaken phrase in the baptisms that he carried out during his more than twenty years of career, invalidates the sacrament. “The problem with ‘us’ is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, it is Christ, and he alone, who presides over all the sacraments, and so it is Christ who baptizes,” wrote Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix. .
The error in Father Arango’s ceremonies was identified in mid-2021. The Diocese of Phoenix created a question and answer portal to clarify doubts, which included questions such as: “Do I need to go to confession?”, “Can my son receive communion?” or “Does this affect my marriage?”
Baptism is the first of the sacraments of Catholic life. Your invalidity could impact subsequent rituals such as confirmation or marriage, which may have to be repeated as well.
It is unknown how many faithful were affected, but the diocese believes it could be in the thousands, and has provided an email to facilitate contact with those who were baptized by Father Arango.
A priest since 1995, he worked in Brazil and San Diego, before moving to the diocese of Phoenix in 2005, and had been pastoring a parish since 2017.
The diocese reported that the father resigned from this position as a result of the error, but that this “does not disqualify him from his vocation and ministry.”
“I deeply regret my mistake, and how this has affected various people in the parish and elsewhere,” he wrote in a letter also released by the diocese, apologizing to the faithful and reporting his resignation. He said that “with the help of the Holy Spirit” he will dedicate himself full time “to assisting in the healing of those who were invalidly baptized.”
The words and elements used in baptism must be respected to the letter, following the Vatican doctrine.
A similar case occurred in 2020 in Michigan when an American father had to be baptized again after discovering in a family video that the pronoun “we” was used instead of “I” at his own baptism, contrary to what the dogma establishes. .
Source: Ambito
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