Thousands of baptisms performed by a priest who served 16 years in Arizona are now presumed invalid because he used the wrong words in a crucial part of the sacrament, Catholic officials said.
The affected people were baptized by Father Andres Arango, who worked in three parishes in the Phoenix metropolitan area from September 2005 until his resignation on February 1. The Diocese of Phoenix indicated that other sacraments received by certain parishioners may have to be repeated following they are properly rebaptized.
The diocese is trying to identify the people baptized by Arango. To do this, it opened an FAQ section on its website to address issues related to incorrect baptisms and also created a form to be filled out by those initiated into the Church by the priest.
Arango’s mistake was to say: “We baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, when he should have said “I baptize you”.
“The problem with using ‘we’ is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, but Christ, and Christ alone, who presides over all the sacraments, and thus it is Christ Jesus who baptizes,” Bishop Thomas Olmsted wrote. in a message posted in mid-January on the diocese’s website.
In June 2020, the Vatican published a guide according to which the formula “we baptize you…” was invalid, and all people baptized with it had to be rebaptized with the correct phrase.
The Holy See indicated that it decided to take action because some priests it did not identify were using the formula “we” to give baptism a more communal aspect that would involve parents, godparents and the community when welcoming a new member of the Catholic Church. .
Arango was a priest at San Gregorio Parish in Phoenix. Before coming to Arizona in 2005, he worked in San Diego and Brazil.
Kevin Eckery, director of external and community relations for the Diocese of San Diego, said the diocese has told worshipers who believe they have been baptized by Arango to speak with their parish priest, verify their baptismal certificate and reapply. get baptized if they fear their baptism is invalid.
“It’s relatively easy to fix. The parish priest can take care of this quickly. If they want to be baptized once more, they can do so,” Eckery said.
In an undated note posted on the Diocese of Phoenix website, Arango wrote: “I am saddened to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms during my ministry as a priest because I regularly used an incorrect formula. I deeply regret my mistake and how this has affected so many people in your parish and elsewhere.”
Christina Moishe Collins, a parishioner and singer at San Gregorio, said Arango was well-liked and helped add to the declining number of people attending services there.
“Father Andres arrived and it was like a breath of fresh air. He is so full of faith in this positive and encouraging way,” he stated.
