PHOENIX — Families came one by one to the baptismal font in a Phoenix church where the Rev. Andrés Arango, whose baptisms up until last summer are presumed to be invalid, poured holy water over the heads of a dozen people in a do-over of the Catholic ritual.
The ceremony Thursday evening represented a new assignment for Arango, pastor of St. Gregory Parish for nearly five years until news broke that he had repeatedly flubbed the phrasing on the initiation rite. His task now: Healing and helping those he invalidly baptized.
Thirteen-year-old Alysson Najera, who was baptized by Arango in 2009, was among the 11 children and one adult who underwent the rite again during the ceremony, this time with Arango using the church-prescribed language. Like others, she then again received Communion and was confirmed — this time as valid sacraments in the eyes of the church, which require recipients first to be baptized.
Alysson’s mother, Eliana Najera, said she doesn’t hold it against Arango that her daughter’s first baptism was invalidated. She praised him for his work over the years and questioned why the Diocese of Phoenix didn’t gather input from the community before his resignation as pastor.
“To me, he didn’t do it intentionally,” Najera said. “It was just a mistake.”
Arango’s error was in saying, “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” when he should have begun the sentence by saying, “I baptize you.” The difference is theologically crucial, the Vatican ruled in 2020, because it’s not the “we” of the congregation doing the baptizing but the “I” of Jesus Christ, working through the priest.
Church officials estimate Arango performed thousands of baptisms that are now presumed invalid and said those affected need to valid baptisms now.
It’s unclear how many people have received the sacrament again.