I want feeneyites and non feeneyites to respond to this. This was something told us by a traditional priest in a sermon a while ago that really bothered me. I will not reveal the priest's name. Let me know what you think, ESPECIALLY if you DO believe in Baptism of Desire.

There was a man dying in the hospital that did not ask for a priest but was saying Catholic prayers and told the nurses that he wanted to become a Catholic. He was never baptized. He did not call for a priest. He got worse and became unconscious and was nearing death. The nurses remembered that he wanted to become a Catholic and called a priest (It was not explained how they called a traditional priest and not a Novus Ordo one) and they told him that the man was not baptized but told them that he wanted to become a Catholic. The priest arrived and the man was unconscious. He knew the man was unbaptized and expressed interest in becoming a Catholic. However the priest could not talk to the man and confirm his desire to be baptized and profess the faith. So the priest let him die unbaptized and hoped that he would be saved by Baptism of Desire.

What think you? This really bothered me as I would have thought he should certainly be baptized. Was this what the priest was supposed to do? Letting the man die unbaptized?

This was the story as I remember it being told in the sermon.

This is absolutely horrible.  All that's needed is SOME INDICATION that the person might want to become a Catholic to perform Baptism under those circuмstances.  That was given by the testimony of the person who called for the priest.  If the person knew enough to want to become Catholic, he presumably knew about the core articles of faith, Our Lord and the Holy Trinity.  If there's NO indication of an intent or desire to become Catholic, that's when the priest cannot baptize.

I would NOT want to be that priest on his judgment day.  This is unbelievable.  Was this a neo-SSPX priest?

With all these idiots talking about "implicit" this and "implicit" that, if the person says, "I want to become a Catholic," that implicitly means embracing the Catholic faith and also an intention to do what it takes to become Catholic, i.e. to get baptized.  There's no need to elicit an explicit "I wish to be baptized."

If I were the nurse, I would have kicked the priest out of the room and baptized him myself.

Baptism of desire is irrelevent here. The man expressed his wish to be baptised, a nurse called a priest and informed him of the situation. In spite of knowing that the man had expressed the wish, (why would the nurse lie about this?) the priest refused.  INcredible! Absolutely horrible!

Under whose jurisdiction is this priest performing (or rather refusing to perform) his function as a priest?

There's a huge need for trad Catholics to assist disoriented Catholics nowadays.

Just visiting such a person in the hospital will bring many graces.

A simple Rosary will open the door to these souls.  It may provide the opportunity to offer a Brown Scapular or even a Baptism.


               Venerable Edel Quinn
                   Legion of Mary

What think you? This really bothered me as I would have thought he should certainly be baptized. Was this what the priest was supposed to do? Letting the man die unbaptized?

This was the story as I remember it being told in the sermon.

Man, talk about a head spinning story, it bothers me too! The priest was supposed to baptize him! It's catechism 101 that in danger of death, baptism must not be delayed! A priest's #1 priority before anything else is the same as the Church's, the salvation of souls.  

While it is true that under normal circuмstances, the recipient must elicit an act of faith before he can be baptized, being in danger of death, I do not see how it can even be questioned - under the circuмstances, he did that by saying he wanted to become a Catholic.

Too bad the nurse was ignorant of the Catholic faith, she could have elicited an act of faith from him then baptized him, then called the priest. Too bad the man was ignorant of the Catholic faith too, because he could have told her to baptize him. Too bad the priest was dumber then the both of them put together, because he could have saved that man's soul, but didn't.

Hopefully you are not remembering the story correctly Matto because this one stinks bad.

 

Just to add a clarification, the baptism should be done conditionally.