Just a follow-up on this previous story ...

"Vatican statement on baptisms not meant to cause panic, priest says" - Catholic News Service, 3/12/08:

"If someone knows for a fact they were baptized with another formula," they should say something, said Susan Wood, a theology professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee. But if they don't know the wording used, they shouldn't be anxious, she told CNS.

Wood, who is currently writing a book on the ecumenical and systematic theology of baptism, said she was pleased with the Vatican announcement, noting that there has been a change in baptismal practice in recent years, primarily in Protestant churches but also in some Catholic churches that use gender-neutral terms to refer to the Trinity.

Wood pointed out that an attempt to "avoid male language for God ends up creating more serious problems for Trinitarian theology," because the wording takes away the relationship that each member of the Trinity has with the other and ends up reducing members of the Trinity to their functional roles.

"The personal relationship gets lost" in the attempts to "be politically correct," she said.

Quoting another church tradition, Wood said, "We believe according to how we pray," meaning that prayer formulas influence what one believes.

Ann Riggs, former director of the National Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission, noted that some Protestant churches refer to the Trinity with the gender-neutral terms in baptism while others use the traditional "Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

She said the discussion among Quakers about whether to use water in baptism to bring their practice closer to that of other Christians has been going on for more than 100 years.