Wednesday, February 14, 2024

E. Sylvester Berry on Invalidly Baptized People in Catholic Theology

  

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)