By Fr John Flader
Question – If someone has not been validly baptised, does that render all the other sacraments they have received invalid and ineffective?
YOUR question refers to the unfortunate situation that in recent times ministers of baptism have used formulas which the Holy See has later declared to be invalid.
Among these are the formula “We baptise you…”, and “I baptise you in the name of the Creator and of the Redeemer and of the Sanctifier” or “I baptise you in the name of the Creator and of the Liberator and of the Sustainer” (cf. J. Flader Question Time 2, q. 193).
When this has happened, you ask whether the invalid Baptism renders invalid or ineffective all the other sacraments the person has received, and therefore whether they should be repeated. Obviously, if the Baptism was invalid, the person should be baptised validly as soon as possible. When that has been done, whether the other sacraments should be repeated varies with each one. We can consider them in the order in which the Catechism treats them.
Following Baptism, the second Sacrament of Christian Initiation is Confirmation.
Since the Baptism was invalid, a subsequent Confirmation will also be invalid and it should be repeated.
As regards the Eucharist, the person may have subsequently received Communion very often and, even though the person was not validly baptised, the Communions will still have been of great benefit due to the person’s subjective dispositions.
In any case, it is obvious that a person cannot repeat all the previous Communions they may have received.
Turning to the two Sacraments of Healing, the first is the Sacrament of Penance, or confession.
As with the Eucharist, the person may have gone to confession numerous times before the invalidity of the Baptism was discovered.
These confessions will, nonetheless, have been fruitful through the sorrow expressed in the sacrament.
God will have forgiven the person, as he would any person on earth who is sincerely sorry and seeks forgiveness from him.
Nonetheless, once the person has been validly baptised, it might be a good idea to make a general confession of all the mortal sins confessed in previous confessions, so that the person can have the assurance that these sins have been truly forgiven.
As regards the second Sacrament of Healing, the Anointing of the Sick, again we can say that the personal dispositions of sorrow for sin and love for God will have moved God to grant the person many graces.
Turning to the Sacraments at the Service of Communion, the first is Holy Orders.
Here, as with Confirmation, the invalidity of the Baptism means that the bishop, priest or deacon was not validly ordained and hence any sacraments he subsequently conferred were invalid.
The exception is that of Baptism, since even a lay person can baptise validly.
As regards the other sacraments, this obviously presents enormous problems in rectifying the damage done in conferring the sacraments invalidly.
For example, an invalidly ordained bishop who later ordained priests and deacons would have to ordain these men again, and all the sacraments those priests conferred would have been invalid.
The second Sacrament at the Service of Communion, Matrimony, also presents problems.
Even though the ministers of the sacrament are the spouses themselves, with the priest or deacon acting only as a witness to their exchange of consent on behalf of the Church and the state, the Church requires a dispensation from the impediment of Disparity of Cult for the validity of a marriage when one of the spouses has not been baptised (cf. Code of Canon Law, Can. 1086).
If the invalidly baptised person has been married in the Church without this dispensation, the marriage will be invalid and they should obtain the dispensation as soon as possible and then have the marriage validated, following Canons 1156-1165.
In all of this, the Catechism gives us much consolation – “God has bound salvation to the Sacrament of Baptism, but He Himself is not bound by His sacraments” (CCC 1257).
God can always give grace independently of the sacraments, as we have seen.
