CATHOLICISM Sia,—The Rector of Huntingfield is, of course, correct in
saying that the sacrament of baptism can be administered by a layman and that therefore Anglican and Nonconformist baptisms, provided form and matter are correct, are indeed valid baptisms into the one 'Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church.' Thus it is quite true to say that every validly baptised child is a Catholic.
But this well-used argument may lead later to much distress of mind, as well as grave misunder- standing of the theological issue involved, unless it is also remembered that, when such a child, come to years of discretion, deliberately seeks or willingly and knowingly submits to Anglican confirmation, he has thereby cut himself off from the Catholic Church. For the sacrament of confirmation cannot be administered by a layman.
The words of the Encyclical Mystici Corporis are relevant here : 'Only those are to be accounted really members of the Church who have been re- generated in the waters of Baptism and profess the true faith and have not cut themselves off from the structure of the Body by their own unhappy act.... Schism, heresy or apostasy arc such of their very nature that they sever a man from the Body of the Church.'
I know, from my own Anglican days, that this great Encyclical is not well known even to Anglo- Catholics, and I am mentioning it, not with any desire for controversy, but to prevent a barren misunderstanding such as too often arises when only half the truth is stated.—Yours faithfully, HUGH ROSS WILLIAMSON
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