Priest watching video of his own baptism spots error. Now 100s invalidated in Michigan
Nearly 800 Michiganders’ baptisms were deemed invalid after the Archdiocese of Detroit discovered a deacon used one wrong word while conducting them.
Instead of saying “I baptize,” Rev. Mark Springer, now retired, used the phrase “we baptize” during baptisms at St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church in Troy, Michigan, from 1986 to 1989, the Associated Press reported.
Among those baptisms was that of Rev. Matthew Hood, whose sacraments and priesthood were undone after he noticed the error while watching a video his father shared of his baptism in 1990, the outlet reported.
Springer’s mistake was addressed by the Archdiocese of Detroit in an August 2020 statement, in which Rev. Allen H. Vigneron said the baptisms were invalid because the incorrect phrase “does not convey the sacrament of baptism.”
“Ministers must allow Jesus to speak through them and say ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Vigneron wrote. “In making this clarification, the Congregation pointed to the Second Vatican Council, which reminded us that no one ‘even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.’”
The statement went on to say that Hood, who first became ordained in 2017, contacted the Archdiocese as soon as he found the error in the video. Afterward, he was validly baptized, confirmed, and then ordained as a transitional deacon and then a priest, restoring the sacraments he would have lost otherwise.
However, the baptisms conducted by Springer between 1986 and 1989, as well as the ones conducted by Hood before he was re-baptized, were still considered invalid, according to the statement.
Baptisms weren’t the only sacrament affected – around 30 couples whose weddings Hood officiated had to redo their wedding vows, the Associated Press reported.
And now, over a year later, the church is still struggling to rectify the mistake. About 200 baptisms were reviewed and found to be valid, and 71 people were re-baptized and received other sacraments again, archdiocese spokeswoman Holly Fournier told the Associated Press. But over 400 people still haven’t responded to the church’s pleas that they be re-baptized.
The discovery of botched baptisms in Michigan comes shortly after similar findings in Arizona – Rev. Andres Arango resigned from his Phoenix parish after thousands of baptisms he performed in California, Arizona and Brazil were deemed invalid, McClatchy News reported.
Those baptisms were voided over the same error. In a statement, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said the error is critical because baptisms should come from Christ, not from people.
“The issue with using ‘We’ is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, rather, it is Christ, and Christ alone, who presides at all of the sacraments, and so it is Christ Jesus who baptizes,” Olmsted wrote.
Though the invalidation of the baptisms drew criticism, Hood told the Associated Press that the opportunity to become re-baptized might compel young people who had drifted from the church since their initial ceremonies to find their way back to the faith.
“The sacraments are the mystery of God crashing into our lives,” Hood told the outlet. “It isn’t just a checklist that you need to make a Christian life. It’s something that changes us completely.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Priest watching video of his own baptism spots error. Now 100s invalidated in Michigan."