Karlo Broussard shows from Scripture why a person must be validly baptized in order to be a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, and explains the three conditions that a baptism must meet to be considered valid.
Transcript:
Host: J.R. in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, listening on the Catholic Answers app. Hi, J.R. How can we help you, buddy?
Caller: So a friend of mine, who is a member of the Salvation Army, spoke to me about how he learned that the Catholic Church doesn’t recognize the validity of this group’s baptism, because they don’t use water and it’s a personal choice. So my question is, how does the Catholic Church identify certain groups, like the Salvation Army, who do not have a valid baptism but see themselves as Christians? Are they still Christian or not?
Karlo: Right. Yeah, so the short answer would be: technically, no, they wouldn’t be a Christian if the baptism isn’t valid. And the reason is, J.R., is because in order to be a Christian, you must be a member of Christ’s body—the Mystical Body, the Church. You must be incorporated into Christ, receiving sanctifying grace in the soul through the sacrament of—and that takes place, initially, in ordinary circumstances, through the sacrament of baptism. St. Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism now saves you;” St. Paul writes in Romans we’re raised to “a new life;” and in verse 7 of chapter 6 in Romans, we’re “free from sin,” we’re justified. Okay? So it is through baptism that we’re made Christian.
Now to the question of “How does the Church determine this,” well, there are basically three essential elements, J.R., that must be present—three conditions that must be met—in order for any baptism to be valid. Number one, you have to have the proper form; and that is to say, to utter the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” You have to have the proper matter; that is, water. And then you have to have the proper intention; and that is to say, you must intend to do what Jesus and the Church commands us to do.
You don’t necessarily have to BELIEVE what Jesus commands us to do and what the Church commands us to do, because, as the Church teaches, anyone can baptize. Cy, if you’re a nonbeliever, if you’re an atheist or whatever, and we get in a car wreck and I’m dying, and I say, “Cy, baptize me!” and Cy says, “Well…I dunno what the Church teaches,” but, “I don’t care, you don’t have to know! Just baptize me! Take the water and do this! Say, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’” I would be baptized. But you would be intending to do whatever the Church does. Like Cy would be saying, J.R., Cy would be saying, “I dunno what the Church believes about this stuff, but hey, I’m gonna do what the Church does.” And that would be a valid baptism.
So if any one of these three conditions are not met, well then the baptism would be declared invalid; and there are several of them, the Salvation Army baptism being one of them. Because it’s—it’s not—it’s just more a religious ceremony or a dedication service of children, and not—not consisting of water baptism.