eucharistandmission: Atila S. Guimarães interprets Magisterial documents with Cushingism : proof on the Tradition in Action website

Friday, February 16, 2018

Atila S. Guimarães interprets Magisterial documents with Cushingism : proof on the Tradition in Action website

Second message, October 15, 2010

Dear Editor,

I recently e-mailed an opinion on the matter of baptism of blood which conflicts with an article by TIA. Though I expressed an opposing position I believe I did so in a courteous and respectful manner at the same time leaving the door open for a correction of my possibly erroneous belief.

I am surprised that your office did not take advantage of the thinly veiled invitation to show me my error using clear Church teaching of a magisterial nature.

It is not usual practice for TIA to deny anyone the courtesy of a helpful reply. I apologize if I am expecting too much from an already overworked staff.

It is also possible that you did not receive the e-mail or that you were unable to open the attachment. If such is the case I resubmit the attachment.
Fr. J.F.C.

The Editor responds:

Rev. Fr. J.F.C.,

I thank you for your consideration in sending, for the second time, your question/objection to TIA, requesting texts from the Magisterium that prove baptism of blood is common Catholic doctrine.

1. On baptism of blood it seems to me that the description of Fr. Alban Butler posted by TIA on our website is in perfect agreement with the Catechism of St. Pius X. In Part IV on the Sacraments, Chapter II on Baptism (§ 4), it states:
Q: Can the absence of Baptism be supplied in any other way?

A: The absence of Baptism can be supplied by martyrdom, which is called Baptism of Blood, or by an act of perfect love of God, or of contrition, along with the desire, at least implicit, of Baptism, and this is called Baptism of Desire (Original online here).

Lionel: Theoretically it is called the Baptism of Desire practically there are no known cases. So the theoretical baptism of desire case is not an objective exception to the de fide teaching on all needing to be incorporated into the Church as members for salvation.

When the Baptism of Desire is assumed to be an exception to traditional EENS, I call it Cushingism or the New Theology.

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2. It appears that the baptism of blood is an extreme case of the baptism of desire. Indeed, that person who is offering his life actually is doing so because he has the desire to enter the Catholic Church. Thus, I believe that you may be interested also in knowing the doctrine of the Magisterium on baptism of desire, which applies as well to the baptism of blood. In this supposition, I transcribe some texts for your perusal.

Lionel: Again I would say that the 'extreme' case is a hypothetical case. There are no known cases of the baptism of desire or baptism of blood for them to be examples of salvation outside the Church or exceptions to the dogma EENS.

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About the baptism of desire accepted as an exception to the rule that everyone should be baptized with water, please read the Encyclical Quanto conficiamur. In it Pius IX states that those outside of the Church may be exceptionally saved through baptism of desire. In case you do not have an easy access to this encyclical, I am transcribing the excerpt that pertains to the topic:

Lionel: Again Pope Pius IX refers to a hypothetical case in Quanto Conficiamur. The baptism of desire and blood would only be known to God and visible to him alone. So they are always hypothetical for us. They were theoretical cases even at the time of Pope Pius IX.

Quanto Conficiamur does not state that they refer to personally known people saved outside the Church and so are exceptions to the dogma EENS. This is a wrong inference made here by Atila M Guimares.

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Here too, our beloved sons and Venerable Brethren, it is again necessary to mention and censure a very grave error that is unfortunately entrapping some Catholics who profess that it is possible for men to arrive at eternal salvation although they live in error and are alienated from the true Faith and Catholic unity. Such opinion is absolutely opposed to Catholic teaching.

Lionel: The pope here supports Feeneyite EENS or EENS as it was known to the missionaries and Magisterium of the 16th century.
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We know and you know that there are those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy Religion. Uprightly observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace. Because God knows, searches, and clearly understands the minds, hearts, thoughts, and nature of all, His supreme goodness and clemency do not permit those who are not guilty of deliberate sin to suffer eternal punishment.

Lionel:So they are known only to God. These are invisible cases for us if they exist.
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Also well known is the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who with contumacy oppose the authority and definitions of the same Church, as well as with contumacy oppose her unity and the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff, to whom ‘the custody of the vineyard has been committed by the Savior’ (Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon)’ (Recueil des allocutions, nn. 7-8, pp. 480-481).

Lionel: Again the pope is affirming Feeneyite EENS, like the Catechism of St. Pius X interpreted with the philosophy and theology of Feeneyism( according to L.A).
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3. As for more ancient teachings on the same topic, a letter of Pope Innocent II to the Bishop of Cremona (1140) reads:

We answer to your question: The presbyter who died without the water of baptism, since he persevered in the faith of Holy Mother Church and in the confession of the name of Christ, we affirm without any doubt that he became free of the original sin and reached the joy of eternal life” (Denzinger n. 388).

That Pope also quotes St. Augustine and St. Ambrose teaching the same.

Lionel: It is hoped that they are saved.On earth no one would know for sure.They could have received the baptism of water in a manner known only to God.We humans cannot read the heart of any one, however good he may appear to seem.

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4. Pope Innocent III in his letter Debitum pastoralis of 1206 states:

You have communicated to us that a certain Jew, at the edge of dying as he was only among Jews, immersed himself in water saying: ‘I baptize myself in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.’

We answer saying that the baptizer and the one who receives baptism must be different persons, as we infer from the words of the Lord when, speaking to His Apostles, He said: ‘Go, baptize all nations in the name etc (Matt 28:19). Therefore, the mentioned Jew must be baptized again by another person to show that one is the baptizer and another is the one who receives the baptism. … Nonetheless, if he would have died immediately, he would have flown instantly to the celestial homeland for his faith in the Sacrament rather than for the Sacrament of the Faith (Denzinger n. 413).

Lionel: Yes and he would have been known only to God.So again we do not have an example of a known case of someone saved outside the Church, or someone saved without the baptism of water.There are still no practical exceptions to EENS.

BOD and BOB are not relevant to EENS.We can see here that Atila Guimares has repeated the confusion created by the liberal theologians in their attempt to do away with the dogma EENS in the Catholic Church.With this reasoning Vatican Council II becomes a rupture with Tradition for Guimares.He is using the philosophy and theology of Cushingism.

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5. A brief but important mention to the baptism of desire is also made by Pope Paul III along with the Council of Trent. As a matter of fact, in the official Decree on Justification of that Council, chapter IV, it is affirmed:

By which words, a description of the Justification of the impious is given, as being a translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior. This translation, however, since the promulgation of the Gospel, cannot be effected except through the laver of regeneration, or the desire thereof, as it is written: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (Denzinger, n. 796).

Lionel: We can give a person the baptism of water, it is concrete and repeatable, it is real. This is not true for the baptism of desire. So the Council of Trent does not state here that 'the desire thereof' refers to a known person saved without the baptism of water.

Cushingites re-interpret this passage from Trent and assume it is an exception to EENS or it is a known baptism in particular non Catholics.This is a false inference.

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6. You may find further documentation of the official Magisterium of the Church in Denzinger-Schonmetzer (nn. 3866-3973), in which is transcribed a Decree of the Holy Office (August 8, 1949) specifically analyzing the errors of those who make a strict interpretation of the dogma Extra Ecclesia nulla salus without admitting any exception.

Lionel: Notice how Guimares considers the baptism of desire and baptism of blood as being exceptions to the strict interpretation of the dogma EENS.He is a Cushingite. With the same Cushingism he has written a book on Vatican Council II unaware of the Feeneyite interpretation of the Council .

So for him the baptism of desire and blood do not refer to hypothetical and theoretical cases.If they are exceptions to EENS they would have to be visible and known people, this his the inference.

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7. Not of the official Magisterium of the Church but with the greatest authority below it, St. Thomas Aquinas also teaches the same regarding the possibility of salvation outside of the Church in exceptional cases:

It falls to Divine Providence to provide all men with the means necessary for salvation, so long as they do not place obstacles in the way. In effect, if someone raised in the wilds or among savage animals is led by natural reason to follow the appetite for good and to flee evil, it should be considered most certain that God will reveal to him by internal inspiration the things necessary to believe, or that He would command some preacher of the Faith to go to him, as he sent St. Peter to Cornelius (Act 10) (De veritate, q. 14, a. 11, ad 1).

Lionel: Here St. Thomas Aquinas refers to the man in invincible ignorance in the forest who is to be saved and to whom God would reveal to him the truth.God would even send a preacher to baptize him.Aquinas held the strict interpretation of the dogma EENS as did St. Augustine.

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These are some documents I have at hand without having the leisure of time for a more precise research. I hope they will help you to clarify your doubts....

Lionel: I have affirmed the same documents but have interpreted all of with Feeneyite philosophy and theology and my premise and conclusions are different. They are traditional, rational and non heretical. Guimares instead affirms the same documents with Cushingism(according to L.A) and his premise and conclusion are a rupture with Tradition, and unknown to him, heretical.-Lionel Andrades