Another Baptism Question

[Neal4Christ]

What is the intention that a Protestant minister needs in order for baptism to be valid? This is the vague part that I have heard differing opinions.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Neal4Christ' date='Jan 13 2005, 03:24 PM'] What is the intention that a Protestant minister needs in order for baptism to be valid? This is the vague part that I have heard differing opinions. [/quote]
The minister of a sacrament must have either a [i]actual[/i] or a [i]virtual[/i] intention to do what the Church [i]does[/i] with the sacrament. An [i]actual[/i] intention is an intention of the will being made here and now during the sacramental action, while a [i]virtual[/i] intention is an intention elicited at an earlier time and never retracted, but which in some way is influencing the administration of the sacrament as it is being celebrated. An [i]habitual[/i] intention does not suffice for the conferring of a sacrament, but only for its reception. Moreover, as Fr. Nicholas Halligan points out, the minister ". . . need not believe in God or in Christ, in the institution of the Church, in the sacrament or its efficacy, as long as he intends to do what [i]de facto[/i] in the Church by Christ's institution is a sacrament." [Nicholas Halligan, O.P. [u]The Administration of the Sacraments[/u]. New York: Alba House, 1962]