One baptism, for the remission of sins

Earlier this week, we looked at a rather confused article about one man's quest to get his baptism annulled. Well, the New York Daily News decided to do a baptism article that is even more confused:

JERUSALEM — Archbishop Dolan followed in the footsteps of John the Baptist Sunday and was rebaptized in the River Jordan during the lastest stop on his Holy Land pilgrimage.

In a word: No. I don't know Dolan, and I know nothing about his trip to Israel, and yet I know this is horribly incorrect. How the New York Daily News could not know that "rebaptism" is not something that any orthodox Catholic would believe, teach or practice, is just beyond me.

Christians believe in, as Ephesians 4 says, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." The Nicene Creed, the most widely used statement of faith throughout Christendom, includes this last part: "I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Even if you only know the name of Aretha Franklin's gospel album, you should know that this is a pretty basic teaching of Christianity.

The story gives a nice overview of Dolan's trip to Israel with 50 American priests, where he got to see some of the sites I was able to see during my trip there last year -- Masada, the Mount of Beatitudes, etc.

We learn more details about the visit to the Jordan:

But the stop in the Jordan Rift Valley proved among the most powerful.

“We renewed our baptismal vows at the River Jordan,” Dolan said.

John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the same river in the New Testament.

Oh! So he renewed his baptismal vows! The thing that many Catholics do each year around the Easter vigil? Is that what we're talking about? That's not rebaptism, Daily News.


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