Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Most Hated Man in American Catholicism



Fr Leonard Feeney.

Why is this?

Propaganda.

In Phil Lawler's book, the first of many, we his ardent fans and admirers hope! entitled:

The Faithful Departed:



And if you haven't ordered it yet- WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR????

Fr. Neuhaus of First Things wrote a review. The whole thing is here.

But the part that captured my eye was:

Fr Neuhaus says (after glowing praise of the book)

I differ with Philip Lawler on a number of points in his telling of the story. For instance, his treatment of the 1940s conflict between Father Leonard Feeney and Cardinal Cushing is, I think, too uncritical of Father Feeney. Feeney was out of line in the way he pressed the claim that only Catholics can be saved.


And what struck me was this. We are talking about priests- a handful of whom have become familiar names- Shanley, Geoghan, who were serial abusers of children. Men who left a wake of human destruction who exploited childhood innocence, who manipulated and cheated and who were able to continue their careers of child abuse for decades and then we have Fr. Feeney. (The man that Fr. Neuhaus can really become exorcised about!)I mean child abuse is bad and all but then we have Fr. Feeney!

And what did Fr. Feeney do?

- teach the Catholic Faith
- adhere to its tenets inspite a loss of human respect, a safe career path, a reputation built on his talents, political considerations and plead for the conversion of souls.
- do what he thought was right
- remain steadfast
- speak alone as a voice crying in the wilderness
- accept the abandonment of friends and his religious order (and we know how THAT turned out!)


Versus child abusers.

Right, wrong or insane, how does Fr. Feeney even merit the ire of Fr. Neuhaus?

It's simple.

Propaganda.

Simplemindedness.

Naivete.

If you are confused about the events that surround the case of Fr. Feeney I think there is only one thing that you need to know. Fr. Feeney was never asked to retract anything that he taught.

IF, Fr. Feeney were a heretic he would have to retract what he had erroneously taught.

Well?

Didn't happen. Couldn't happen. Won't happen.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank Heaven you wrote this. I pray to Father Feeney often that the dogmas of the Faith will be more widely preached and believed.

It's nice to find another fan of Father Feeney in the blogosphere; his defenders are too few and often silent. I suggest that you provide a link to the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the order he founded, on Against All Hersies. The address is catholicism.org. Having done so myself, it's provided me a few opportunities to defend Father Feeney and Saint Benedict Center against their attackers.

NCTradCatholic said...

There are better ways of practicing Lenten mortification than by reading Fr. Neuhaus.

M. Alexander said...

NCTRAD - you literally made me LOL!

Crusader88- My sister is a nun at IHM.
Thanks,
Mary

Lynne said...

I've attended Mass at the Saint Benedict Center. Guess that makes me a Feeneyite too. Great book.

Anonymous said...

*applause*

Anonymous said...

Question: What are the current efforts within the SBC community in Still River
and within the Diocese itself, to attain
canonical status in the Worcester Diocese for the SBC? Is there any ongoing communication, discussion of text, etc. at the current time?


Thanks,


James

M. Alexander said...

Dear James,
Thanks for the comment. The status of the St Benedict Center in Stillriver is regular within the diocese of Worcester. The Bishop came just last year to administer the Rite of Confirmation to 50 people.

But I've found that for those to whom this was important before, it now makes absolutely no difference being a matter of prejudice.
Mary

Anonymous said...

So in your view the church must either be engaged in covering up molestations or else be engaged in Jew baiting and cheap thuggery?

What a dim view you have of your church.

M. Alexander said...

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for your comment for I believe it reveals much about you and absolutely nothing about me, Fr. Feeney or the Church.

Cheers,
Mary

Catholic Mission said...

Saturday, October 22, 2011
MISSION SUNDAY : ANNOUNCEMENT
Mission Sunday: Announcement


Dear Catholics,

Please note that contrary to the widespread misinformation there is no Magisterial text which says Fr. Leonard Feeney of Boston was excommunicated for heresy. So the Church has not retracted the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus defined by three Church Councils.

Secondly, we do not know any case of a non Catholic saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire. So Vatican Council II does not contradict the dogma. According to Cantate Domino, Council of Florence and Vatican Council II (LG 14, AG 7) all non Catholics, Christians included need to enter the Church with Catholic Faith and the baptism of water (AG 7, LG 14) to avoid the fires of Hell.

Please place this announcement in any media available, Catholic or secular, no permission is required.-Lionel Andrades

Catholic Mission said...

Saturday, October 22, 2011
PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY INDICATES POPES, SAINTS IN HERESY
Makes factual error in 2004 report released on the internet. Subtle criticism of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith


Unbelievable but it’s true. The Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Vatican claims Pope Pius XII condemned in 1949 ‘an exclusive interpretation’ of the dogma “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus”.(1)


This is a reference to the priest Fr. Leonard Feeney of Boston. It is assumed by the Pontifical Council that he was excommunicated for heresy. Since he preached that everyone needs to be a visible, formal member of the Catholic Church for salvation. He recognized no exceptions as the baptism of desire or non Catholics being saved in invincible ignorance.


1. A reading of the text of the 1949 Letter of the Holy Office issued during the pontificate of Venerable Pope Pius XII shows that no where is it said that Fr. Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy.


2. Assuming he was excommunicated for heresy then it would mean that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Holy Office) claims numerous popes, saints, the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus thrice defined, as heretical. It would mean Vatican Council II (LG 14,AG 7) is also heretical.

CONTINUED

Catholic Mission said...

CONTINUED
The dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus indicates every non Catholic needs to convert into the Church for salvation. It does not refer to invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire as an exception. Fr. Leonard Feeney preached this teaching. This was the centuries-old interpretation of the dogma.


Vatican Council II (LG 14, AG 7) tells us that all need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation. No magisterial text, including Vatican Council II says that those saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire is explicitly known to us. Since they are always implicit they do not contradict the dogma or LG 14, AG 7 of Vatican Council II.


Vatican Council II admits the possibility of a non Catholic being saved in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire, a good conscience etc. However it does not claim that these cases are known to us.


The Pontifical Council for Christian Unity suggests Pope Pius XII contradicted himself in the Letter of the Holy Office. Since Pope Pius XII referred to ‘the dogma’, ‘the infallible teaching’. The dogma Cantate Domino, Council of Florence tells us that all non Catholics in Boston and the rest of the world are oriented to the fires of Hell unless they enter the Catholic Church and remain a member. The dogma specifically mentions Orthodox Christians and Protestants. So Pope Pius XII here supports Fr. Leonard Feeney on doctrine; on the dogma.


With the Assisi interfaith meeting next week and criticism of the false ecumenism, of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity probably this report with an objective, factual error was made available.


For discerning Catholics this 2004 report is a slander of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican and its Prefect, Cardinal William Levada.
-Lionel Andrades
CONTINUED

Catholic Mission said...

1.

In the course of the Council the “subsistit in” took the place of the previous “est”.[7] It contains in nuce the whole ecumenical problem.[8] The “est” claimed that the church of Christ Jesus “is” the Catholic Church. This strict identification of the church of Christ Jesus with the Catholic Church had been represented most recently in the encyclicals Mystici corporis (1943) and Humani generis (1950).[9] But even according to Mystici corporis there are people who, although they have not yet been baptised, are subsumed under the Catholic Church because that is their express desire (DS 3921). Therefore Pius XII had condemned an exclusive interpretation of the axiom “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus” already in 1949.-Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity, Vatican Nov. 11,2004, the Decree on Ecumenism Read Anew After Forty Years. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20041111_kasper-ecumenism_en.html
Friday, October 21, 2011

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity claims Pope Pius XII condemned the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus :suggests those in invincible ignorance are explicitly known to us and so contradicts the dogma
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/pontifical-council-for-promoting.html
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/pontifical-council-for-christian-unity.html

Catholic Mission said...

Thursday, October 20, 2011
ANGELICUM UNIVERSITY IS CHURNING OUT THEOLOGY DEGREES FOR THOSE WHO SAY FR.LEONARD FEENEY WAS EXCOMMUNICATED FOR REJECTING THE BAPTISM OF DESIRE
Religious students at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome are invited annually by the Angelicum to choose a thesis. One of the options available is the subject ‘outside the church there is no salvation’.


Bro. Benedict, from Kerala, India is the Priest In charge at the Missionaries of Charity Contemplative Men’s house in Rome.He chose this subject. It was approved by the moderator. Bro. Benedict received his theology degree from the Angelicum.


The moderator approved his thesis since he repeated the liberal lie that Fr. Leonard Feeney rejected the possibility of non Catholics being saved with the baptism of desire and invincible ignorance. and that he held the ‘rigorist interpretation’ of the dogma outside the church there is no salvation.
CONTINUED

Catholic Mission said...

CONTINUED
DON'T ASK


The students do not ask in their thesis how could Fr. Leonard Feeney be excommunicated for holding the same position as the popes, the saints, the Church Fathers and the dogma itself?


The dogma thrice defined by three Councils does not mention non Catholics being saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire. So Fr. Leonard Feeney did not say anything different.


How can being saved in invincible ignorance the baptism of desire be an exception to the dogma when we do not know any such explicit case in the present times.


Where is the magisterial text which refers to these cases as being explicit and so contradicting the dogma; contradicting the ‘rigorist interpretation’ of the dogma?


Where does Vatican Council II refer to non Catholics being saved explicitly and in known cases in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire, a good conscience, in partial communion with the Church and by the Word of God?


Where does the Letter of the Holy Office of Pope Pius XII say that Fr. Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy and not disobedience ?


Did not the Letter of the Holy Office refer to ‘the dogma’, ‘the infallible statement’ and does not the dogma indicate that all non Catholics in Boston and the rest of the world need to convert visibly into the Catholic Church for salvation? Was this not exactly what Fr. Leonard Feeney preached?

If we do not know of any explicit case of someone being saved with the baptism of desire etc then how can we expect Fr.Leonard Feeney to claim that these are exceptions to the dogma?


Can this really be the teaching of the Catholic Church as stated by the secular media when the magisterial texts say otherwise ?
Similarly Fr. Francesco Giardano, an Italian Diocesan priest had the present Rector of the Angelicum University as his moderator. He mentioned Fr. Leonard Feeney extensively and with the same errors. He was granted a Licentiate degree by the Angelicum.


This is the corrupt system in the Pontifical Universities here on the subject of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.A priest may affirm the dogma in private but at the University to get his degree he has to repeat the errors of the faculty in this case reject an ex cathedra dogma with an irrational comment.-Lionel Andrades

Catholic Mission said...

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
IF THEY EXCOMMUNICATED FR.LEONARD FEENEY FOR SAYING THAT THERE WAS NO BAPTISM OF DESIRE THEN THEY MADE A MISTAKE.THERE ARE NO KNOWN EXCEPTIONS TO THE DOGMA.
An injustice was done to the priest and St.Benedict Center

The secular media and the liberals say Fr.Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy. The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 does not say it was for heresy but for disobedience.Pope Pius XII in the Letter supported Fr.Leonad Feeney on doctrine.He was excommunicated for disobedience. He refused to go to Rome when summoned.He was also being opposed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston Richard Cushing.

The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 supported Fr.Leonard Feeney when it referred to ‘the dogma’, the ‘infallible’statement.(1) The text of the dogma is a literal interpretation of the thrice defined dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.The dogma does not mention any explicit exception. So this was exactly what was taught by Fr.Leonard Feeney and the St.Benedict Center.

Some passages in the Letter however are critical of Fr.Leonard Feeney and the St.Benedict Center.(2) So if it was assumed that the baptism of desire etc was an explicit exception to the dogma then they were mistaken.There are no known cases of people saved with the baptism of desire etc. To claim so would be an objective,factual oversight.

The Letter of the Holy Office does not directly claim that those saved in invincible ignorance etc are explicit exceptions to the dogma or that we can know these cases. This was the error of the Archbishop of Boston and the media which supported him.

The Letter which was addresed to the Archbishop had technical irregularities and so could also have been a bishop-to-bishop document.It was hastily placed in the Denzinger by the liberals.

The communities of Fr.Leonard Feeney today, recognized by the Catholic Church, know there are no exceptions to the dogma. This is common sense.

So if Fr.Leonard Feeney rejected the baptism of desire etc for whatever reason it is irrelevant. The baptism of desire etc is not issue with reference to the dogma.

For centuries the Church upheld the literal interpretation of the dogma alongwith implicit baptism of desire known ,of course, only to God.

It was Cardinal Richard Cushing and the Jesuits who created this false issue, that of the visible- to- us baptism of desire.

So we are back to the centuries old interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus with the baptism of desire and invincible ignorance out of the way, as exceptions.
continued

http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2012/05/if-they-excommunicated-frleonard-feeney.html