Letters

Baptism formula

Franklin J. Wood

Contents - Jun 2008 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Man-made climate change: a moral issue - Michael Gilchrist Education: Pope: Catholic education must uphold Church teachings - Pope Benedict XVI News: The Church Around the World Human Rights: China: Olympic rings - or shackles? - Babette Francis Jury still out on global warming - Cardinal George Pell Christianity 'lite' with all the hard parts unmentioned: a spiritual dead-end - Alan Roebuck FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: Reasons for believing in God - Frank Mobbs Climate Debate: Man-made climate change is a reality - Dr Alex Gardner Climate Debate: Man-made climate change: politics not science - Peter Finlayson Letters: Climate change - J. Holder Letters: Sceptical - Bernard Hoey Letters: Scandal - Don Gaffney Letters: Contraception - Tim Coyle Letters: Baptism formula - Franklin J. Wood Letters: Adoptions - Tom King Letters: Abortion and Martin Luther King - Brian Harris Letters: Ordinary Magisterium - Peter D. Howard Letters: Infallible? - Frank Mobbs Letters: Priests needed in Ballarat - Jenny Bruty Books: RATZINGER'S FAITH: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, by Tracey Rowland - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: FR WERENFRIED: A Life, by Joanna Bogle - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Letters: FEMINISM V. MANKIND: Selected Essays - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: Books available from AD2000 Books Reflection: Benedict XVI on the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ - Pope Benedict XVI

Earlier this year a parish in South Brisbane earned notoriety for having to be told by Rome that its formula for Baptism - 'The Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier' - was invalid.

I read in two Catholic magazines published three years ago that the same parish earned the same notoriety for the same irregular practice of Baptism, having been performing those 'Baptisms' for over ten years.

That invalid formula in fact violates Church teaching on the Holy Trinity since it implies that each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity works for the people of the world totally independently. That of course is a heresy.

When that parish gained notoriety this year, a self-styled theological commentator stated publicly regarding the instruction from Rome that the traditional formula for Baptism consisted of 'just words'.

In fact some Bibles publish the traditional formula for Baptism in Ferrari red. This is because they were taught by Our Lord Jesus Christ - which is good enough for our Orthodox brethren, as well as the Anglican, Uniting and Lutheran churches, but apparently not for the South Brisbane parish.

FRANKLIN J. WOOD
North Rockhampton, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 21 No 5 (June 2008), p. 14