#baptisms

PHOENIX, Arizona — The baptisms of thousands of people in the Diocese of Phoenix are now in question after it was learned a Catholic priest had changed just one word during the ritual.

The Diocese released a statement saying that the Rev. Andres Arango used the words “we baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit” instead of the correct phrase “I baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”

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More than 120,000 Church of England baptisms and services of thanksgiving for the gift of a child take place every year. Curate Rev Sid Bridges writes about a ‘fresh expression’ style church made up largely of families who have brought their children to be baptised at a christening, using open mic sessions, story telling, 'action' prayers and time to get to know one another.

Around 60 families a year bring their children for christening at Holy Trinity, Orton Longueville and St Mary’s Orton Waterville in Peterborough but up until recently relatively few returned to the church. Rev Sid Bridges, assistant curate, set up ‘Refresh’ - meeting on Sunday afternoons in St Mary’s Church where the space has been recreated to welcome families with young children.

“The gathering follows a structure which includes Bible stories, prayers and reflective space all finished off with time to hang out whilst sharing food and drink. In recent months the session has started with a Bible story with an open mic for children and parents to discuss its meaning. We don’t just read a Bible passage, we tell the story and ask afterwards ‘what is the wisdom in this?’ and ask the children – and the parents – what they think about it. Where you might be discussing the story of Jonah and the whale, we will ask if there is a time in your life that you have felt trapped, or avoided a tough decision. What wisdom can we take from this story to apply in our own lives? We then have a chalk board where we encourage people to put their prayer requests up – people write their prayers up and we pray for them. They might just put a word down or the name of a family member – whatever they write, we pray it.

“At the last session there were 52 people present, including 32 children. I worked out that there were nine baptismal families, these are not people who have been church goers, they are not in our other congregations, they are all people who have been outside our existing worshipping communities. It is really exciting seeing them enjoying the church space and worshipping together.”

Southern Baptist membership sank last year to its lowest level since 1973, even as the U.S.’ largest Protestant denomination saw increases in baptisms and attendance at services. Those results for 2025 were released Tuesday by Lifeway Research, the denomination’s research affiliate. Membership fell by 3% to 12.3 million, continuing a nearly two-decade decline. At the same time, weekly worship…