Persons Invalidly Baptized
There is room for doubt concerning the
membership of persons who have been invalidly baptized, (“Invalidly baptized,”
i.e., an invalid ceremony of Baptism was performed) or not baptized at all, yet
are publicly known as Catholics and live as such in the firm conviction that
they have been baptized. Many eminent theologians, e.g., Bellarmine, Palmieri,
and Straub, (Bellarmine, “De Ecclesia Militante,” iii, 10; Palmieri, “DeRomano
Pontifice,” Proleg., xi, 4; Straub, “De Ecclesia Christi,” n. 1304-1307) maintain
that such persons are true members of the Church because the necessary
conditions are fulfilled; the persons in question submit to the teaching and
ruling authority of the Church, and she, on her part, publicly recognize them
as members by admitting them to the Sacraments and other privileges of
membership. Innocent II is also cited in support of this opinion because of the
reply he made to inquiries concerning such a person: “I do not hesitate to
assert that the person who died, as you say, without Baptism, was freed from
original sin and has obtained the joys of Heaven because he persevered in the
faith of holy mother, the Church, and in the confession of Christ’s name.”
(Denzinger, n. 388)
Dorsch and Wilmers (Wilmers, “De
Ecclesia Christi,” p. 627; Dorsch, “De Ecclesia Christi,” p. 401) are of the
opinion that such persons cannot be considered members of the Church because
they are incapable of receiving other Sacraments validly, and therefore, do not
participle in the most essential benefits of the Church. They are publicly
regarded as members, but wrongly so; being regarded a member and being a member
are two different things. These authors rightly claim that the words of
Innocent II prove nothing in the matter, since he does not say that the person
in question was a member of the Church; he simply says that he attained
salvation, which, as all theologians admit, can be obtained by perfect
contrition and desire for membership in the Church, if actual membership is
impossible. The question is of little practical importance, since the number of
such persons will always be small, and their salvation cannot be affected in
the least by our opinions, one way or the other, in the matter. (E. Sylvester
Berry, The Church of Christ: An Apologetic and Dogmatic Treatise
[Frederick County, Md.: Mount Saint Mary's Seminary, 1955; repr., Eugene,
Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2009], 132-33)