Sunday, November 27, 2011

DID THE CARDINAL WHO ISSUED THE LETTER OF THE HOLY OFFICE 1949 ASSUME THAT THE BAPTISM OF DESIRE WAS VISIBLE AND AN EXCEPTION TO THE DOGMA ?

For the baptism of desire to be an exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus it would have to be visible and known. Implicit, only-known-to God baptism of desire is not an exception to the dogma which indicates every one must me a visible member of the Church.
 
The Letter mentions the dogma the infallible statement (1). It then affirms the baptism of desire (2).Then is it being implied that the baptism of desire  is an exception to the dogma? (3).God accepts an implicit desire he can also save someone in invincible ignorance.(4) So ? Is it being implied that being saved with the baptism of desire or in invincible ignorance is an exception to the dogma ?


There are those who are members of the Church as taught by the dogma  and there are those who are united to the Church only by desire.(5) Do we know any case of someone unted to the Church only by desire? Do we know any such case who is a member of the Church in the present time? No. Can such a case be an explicit exception to the dogma teaching that every one needs to convert into the Church for salvation? If  we do not know any such case how can there be an exception.
 
So why mention in it in the Letter ? It was because the Archbishop and the Jesuits implied that these cases could be exceptions to the dogma.
 
Interestingly the Letter of the Holy Office was addressed to the Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Richard Cushing who believed like the Jesuits at Boston College that every one with no exception does not have to enter the Church for salvation. For Fr.Leonard Feeney this was a conscience issue (6). The Archbishop  believed that  there could be non Catholics saved with the baptism of desire or in invincible ignorance. Implying, of course, that these cases are visible, explicit and known to us and so are an exception to the dogma.

The Letter affirms the dogma as did Fr.Leonard Feeney. The dogma does not mention any exceptions and neither does Fr.Leonard Feeney. The Letter seems to refer to the issue of the  baptism of desire being implied as an exception to the dogma.


To imply that this defined dogma has visible exceptions is heresy. It is a rejecting of  the dogma as it was interpreted for centuries.

-Lionel Andrades
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1.
Now, among those things which the Church has always preached and will never cease to preach is contained also that infallible statement by which we are taught that there is no salvation outside the Church.

However, this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments that Our Savior gave for explanation those things that are contained in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the Church.-Letter of the Holy Office 1949

2.
In His infinite mercy God has willed that the effects, necessary for one to be saved, of those helps to salvation which are directed toward man’s final end, not by intrinsic necessity, but only by divine institution, can also be obtained in certain circumstances when those helps are used only in desire and longing. This we see clearly stated in the Sacred Council of Trent, both in reference to the sacrament of regeneration and in reference to the sacrament of penance (, nn. 797, 807).

In His infinite mercy God has willed that the effects, necessary for one to be saved, of those helps to salvation which are directed toward man’s final end, not by intrinsic necessity, but only by divine institution, can also be obtained in certain circumstances when those helps are used only in desire and longing. This we see clearly stated in the Sacred Council of Trent, both in reference to the sacrament of regeneration and in reference to the sacrament of penance (, nn. 797, 807).

3.
The same in its own degree must be asserted of the Church, in as far as she is the general help to salvation. Therefore, that one may obtain eternal salvation, it is not always required that he be incorporated into the Church actually as a member, but it is necessary that at least he be united to her by desire and longing.

4.
However, this desire need not always be explicit, as it is in catechumens; but when a person is involved in invincible ignorance God accepts also an implicit desire, so called because it is included in that good disposition of soul whereby a person wishes his will to be conformed to the will of God.



5.
These things are clearly taught in that dogmatic letter which was issued by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius XII, on June 29, 1943, (AAS, Vol. 35, an. 1943, p. 193 ff.). For in this letter the Sovereign Pontiff clearly distinguishes between those who are actually incorporated into the Church as members, and those who are united to the Church only by desire.

Discussing the members of which the Mystical Body is-composed here on earth, the same august Pontiff says: “Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.”
6.