Vatican statement on baptisms not meant to cause panic, priest says

Published: 2008-03-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A week after the Vatican announced that baptisms are invalid if they were not administered with the words "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," the pastor at Christ the King Parish in Haddonfield, N.J., said he had not been inundated with questions from his parishioners. "Not too many people know about it," Father Joe Wallace told Catholic News Service March 7. But he was sure that as word spread about the Feb. 29 statement from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, not only would Catholics have questions, but so would people from other faiths. Father Wallace, who is also director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the Diocese of Camden, N.J., said the Vatican statement is hardly promoting a new idea and he also said it was not meant to cause panic among those who wonder if their baptisms were performed with the right words. Instead, he said the Vatican statement was meant to clarify what the church has always believed and ensure that future baptisms use language that is clear and "unambiguously Trinitarian" revealing the three persons of the Trinity.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .