A laicized priest from Philadelphia performed a baptism this past summer at a New Jersey Catholic church. This illustrates the problem of laicizing priests and keeping track of them, as well as the fact that lay people can be the problem as much as bishops and priests.
A former Philadelphia-area priest accused of abusing more than a dozen girlsƒand taking an 11-year-old he had raped for an abortionƒperformed a baptism this summer weeks after he was defrocked.
Nicholas V. Cudemo performed the baptism at Christ the King Church in Haddonfield, N.J., on July 10, Camden diocese officials confirmed.
The pastor of the church said Cudemo performed the baptism at a family’s request and only later did the parish realize his status. Evidently, no one checked his faculties, which isn’t surprising because I don’t think there is a process in place in most diocese to do so.
The baptism remains valid regardless because you don’t have to be ordained to perform a valid baptism. You just have to use water, invoke the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and intend what the Church intends for the sacrament.
