Sunday, June 9, 2013

Convert apologists are using Protestant salvation theology and earning a living on it

Steve Ray, Jimmy Akins, Patrick Madrid, Mark Shea and others  are all using Protestant salvation theology in the Catholic Church.
According to Protestants just  believing in Jesus is enough and once saved is always saved. This is rejected by the convert apologists. They rightly say that works are necessary, avoiding sin is necessary. Since sin can lead to Hell even if you just believe in Jesus. However the convert apologists vaguely say that belief in Jesus is enough for salvation and they exclude the necessity of the Church; the need to be a visible member of the Catholic Church for salvation. They deny the exclusiveness of the Catholic Church for salvation. They deny traditional Catholic salvation theology.
 Some of the reasons for this denial are:
1.Fr.Leonard Feeney was allegedly excommunicated for believing in exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church
(In other words there can be visible to us  cases of non Catholics saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire . There are known exceptions to Fr.Leonard Feeney . They can see the dead- saved.)
2. The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 is critical of Fr.Leonard Feeney.
( The Letter mentions he was excommunicated for disobedience and not heresy. The excommunication was lifted without him having to recant.
Assuming he was excommunicated for heresy then there was an objective  mistake made, since we do not know any case of a person saved in invincible ignorance  etc for there to be known exceptions to his  literal interpretation of the dogma).
3. Fr.Leonard Feeney was in heresy.
(If he was in heresy then so were the Church Councils, popes and saints who held the same interpretation on salvation).
 4.Vatican Council II says non  Catholics can be saved .
Yes. - but the Council does not state these these cases saved are visible to us , nor that they are exceptions to the dogma on exclusive salvation.Neither does the Council say that these cases refer to salvation in general in other religions.If it did it would contradict Ad Gentes 7 which says all need faith and baptism for salvation.Outside the Church there is no salvation (CCC 846).
Since we cannot see these cases saved they can only be possibilities for us. So being saved in invincible ignorance(LG 16), imperfect communion with the Church (UR 3),seeds of the word (AG 11) etc are only possibilities. Being possibilities known only to God and invisible for us they are  irrelevant to the literal interpretation of the dogma according to Fr.Leonard Feeney, the saints, popes and the Church Councils .
 So the convert apologists have no magisterial text which mentions visible exceptions to the dogma on salvation and neither can they name any such person in the present times who is an exception.
So why cannot the apologists use Catholic traditional salvation theology?

Why is it Jesus- Yes, the Church- not necessarily Yes ?They do not know any special case on earth who can be saved without the Catholic Church.This is a variation of Protestantism in which the doctrines are not important.One only has to believe in Jesus.
It needs to be said that for salvation all need to enter the Catholic Church in 2013, with Catholic Faith and the baptism of water (AG 7,CCC 846,845)
 and there are no exceptions (known or unknown). As Pope Francis said 'One cannot find Jesus outside the Catholic Church '. There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church (CCC 846,845 Outside the Church No Salvation).-Lionel Andrades