Wikipedia needs to correct their ideological report on Fr. Leonard Feeney.
Father Leonard Edward Feeney (February 18, 1897 – January 30, 1978) was an American Jesuit priest, poet, lyricist, and essayist.
He articulated a particular interpretation of the Roman Catholic doctrine extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside the Church there is no salvation"). He took the position that baptism of blood and baptism of desire are unavailing and that therefore no non-Catholics will be saved
The baptism of desire and baptism of blood literally do not exist in our reality and so are unavailing as exceptions to the Feeneyite interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus(EENS).
After April 1949 the affair became a public scandal when Father Feeney, SJ., undertook in the press the defence of dismissed laymen[9] who were teaching in the Jesuit College (founded in Boston by the Society of Jesus in 1863) that those who were not members of the Church were damned.[10]
Feeney criticized Cushing for, among other things, accepting the church’s definition of “baptism of desire".
Lionel: The ' Church's definition ' at that time according to Wikipedia, was that the baptism of desire(BOD) was an exception to the strict interpretation of EENS. So in other words there were literal cases of the BOD for them to be exceptions. The BOD was an objective exception to EENS for Wikipedia. It was 'availing'.
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Finally, in 1949, Cushing declared Feeney's St. Benedict's Center off-limits to Catholics.[11] That same year Boston College and Boston College High School dismissed four of the Center's members from the theology faculty for spreading Feeney's views in the classroom.[12][13]
Lionel : For the Rector of Boston College the baptism of desire was 'availing' as a practical exception to the traditional interpretation of EENS as held by the Jesuits in the Middle Ages.
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In light of his controversial behavior, his Jesuit superiors ordered him to leave the Center for a post at College of the Holy Cross, but he repeatedly refused, which led to his expulsion from the order. Cushing suspended Feeney's priestly faculties in April 1949; Feeney continued to celebrate the sacraments although he was no longer authorized to do so.[14]
On August 8, 1949, Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani of the Holy Office sent a protocol letter to Archbishop Cushing[15] on the meaning of the dogma extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the church there is no salvation), which Feeney refused to accept.[16] This protocol, approved by the Pope on July 28, 1949 stated "(T)his dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments that Our Saviour gave for explanation those things that are contained in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the Church."[17]
Lionel: To consider the baptism of desire as a practical exception to EENS was not private judgement for Wikipedia.
But Fr.Leonard Feeney was interpreting the dogma 'in the sense in which the Church understood it for centuries.' So this line in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 actually supports Fr. Leonard Feeney.
But Fr.Leonard Feeney was interpreting the dogma 'in the sense in which the Church understood it for centuries.' So this line in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 actually supports Fr. Leonard Feeney.
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On October 25, 1952, Fr. Feeney received a letter from Cardinal Pizzardo, Secretary of the Holy Office, summoning the priest to Rome. Fr. Feeney replied to Cardinal Pizzardo requesting an explanation of the charges against him in order to prepare his defense as per canon 1723[18], but none was forthcoming. Petitions to Pope Pius XII went unanswered.[19]
Lionel: He was not saying any thing new. Practical exceptions to EENS were 'unavailing'.
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After Feeney repeatedly refused to reply to a summons to Rome to explain himself[citation needed], he was excommunicated on February 13, 1953 by the Holy See for persistent disobedience to legitimate Church authority due to his refusal to comply. According to Cardinal John Wright, Pope Pius XII personally translated the edict into English.[11]
Lionel : He was excommunicated for not saying that the baptism of desire was a practical exception to EENS ?!
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The decree of excommunication was later published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis in ANNUS XXXX V - SERIES II - VOL. XX, page 100. [20] His followers said that his excommunication was invalid.[14]
Lionel: How could there be practical exceptions to EENS ? This was testing everyone's intelligence.
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Following his excommunication, Feeney set up a community called the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[2][1][21] He was reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church in 1972 through the efforts of Boston Archbishop Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, but, given his age and health, was not required to retract or recant his interpretation of "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus". The phrase is inscribed on his tombstone.
Lionel : Why would he say that there are practical exceptions to EENS ? Who can name any practical exception to EENS in 1949 or 1972 ?
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EWTN and Catholic Culture have posted a report Tragic Errors of Fr. Leonard Feeney which also assume there are practical exceptions to EENS. It is written allegedly by Fr.William Most.
Then the Holy Office, under Pius XII, sent a letter to the Archbishop of Boston, condemning Feeney's error. (It is known that Pius XII personally checked the English text of that letter). In the very first paragraph pointed out what is obvious: we must avoid private interpretation of Scripture -- for that is strictly Protestant. But then the letter said we must also avoid private interpretation of the official texts of the Church. To insist on our own private interpretation, especially when the Church contradicts that, is pure Protestant attitude.
Lionel: In other words the non private and official interpretation of the Church since 1949 is that there are practical exceptions to EENS . The baptism of desire , baptism of blood and invincible ignorance refer to personally known non Catholics saved outside the Catholic Church.-Lionel Andrades
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