Bishop Joseph Strickland does not affirm the dogma EENS according to the Fourth Lateran Council, the Council of Florence and the Athanasius Creed. Why ? Has the teachings of the Catholic Church changed for him?

 

Bishop Strickland: Salvation is only mediated through the Church established by Christ

https://www.lifesitenews.com/episodes/bishop-strickland-salvation-is-only-mediated-through-the-church-established-by-christ/?utm_source=featured_video&utm_campaign=usa

Sep 24, 2023

 (LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of the Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland continues his commentary on his second pastoral letter, explaining that salvation comes through the ministration of the Catholic Church alone. 

Lionel: This is vague and not precise. Is the good bishop, whom I admire, saying that 1) there are known cases of non Catholics saved outside the Catholic Church with the baptism of desire (LG 14) , invincible ignorance(LG 16) etc?. 2) Is he saying that he knows of particular non Catholics saved outside the Catholic Church without Catholic faith and the baptism of water ? 3) Is he saying that all non Catholics in general are oriented to Hell without faith and baptism (AG 7)? There are so many questions which are not answered. 4) Is he saying that he rejects the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and the Council of Florence (1442)? 5) Does he accept the 1949 Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston relative to Fr. Leonard Feeney which tells us that invisible cases of the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance, are visible examples of salvation outside the Church ? May be Terry Barber could ask Bishop Strickland these questions on the Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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Continuing his commentary, Strickland says that from the perspective of the Catholic Church, once one is baptized, he is incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ. The incorporation, however, cannot attain its fullness outside of the Catholic Church, as the Catholic Church alone has the fulness of truth and the means of grace. Every unbaptized person, further, is invited to partake of the fulness of Christ through baptism. 

Lionel: Yes. Pope Honourious III in the Fourth Lateran Council explained this, as saying, that all must seek the truth in the Catholic Church outside of which there is no salvation. This is also the message of the Athanasius Creed. Does Bishop Joseph Strickland affirm the Athanasius Creed ?

I tried to interact with Bishop Joseph Strickland on this issue on Twitter but there was no respose from him. The USCCB rejects the dogma EENS of the Fourth Lateran Council. The USCCB also accepts the irrational and non Magisterial 1949 Letter of the Holy Office which has brought a new theology into the Catholic Church. It says outside the Church there is salvation.It implies that there are known people in the present times saved outside the Catholic Church.So not everyone needs to enter the Church. I call this Cushingism. Dominus Iesus  and Redemptoris Missio were Cushingite as was Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Joseph Strickland seems to be repeating the liberal theology of Pope Benedict XVI. He would be interpreting Vatican Council II ( LG 8, 14, 15,16 etc) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church ( 847-848 etc), irrationally.

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While explaining this infallible teaching of the Church, however, Strickland offers a caveat: God asks people to freely accept baptism and grace. “It’s not some automatic thing,” he says. “‘Oh, you’re baptized, so you’re just going to be … living faithfully the way of Jesus Christ.’ It gives you grace, it gives you the opportunity, but all of us have to continue to cooperate [with grace].” 

Lionel: In this interview Bishop Jospeh Strickland does not affirm the dogma EENS according to the Fourth Lateran Council, the Council of Florence and the Athanasius Creed. Why ? Has the teachings of the Catholic Church changed for him?

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Strickland also addresses a corollary to this dogma of the Catholic faith, addressing the fate of those who die outside of the Catholic Church. Strickland, referring to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explains that God can work outside of the Catholic Church, though only through her mediation.

Lionel: The dogma EENS says all need to be members of the Catholic Church for salvation. The Church Councils which defined this dogma did not mention any exceptions. At the human level we cannot know of any exceptions. If any one is saved outside the Catholic Church it can only be known to God.

So when the the Catechism of the Catholic Church mentions being saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire (847-848 etc) - it does not contradict the dogma EENS, for me. Since hypothetical and invisible cases of the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance are not exceptions for the dogma EENS or Ad Gentes 7, for me. Ad Gentes 7 says all need faith and baptism for salvation. So yes- God can work outside the Church since God is God but God can also choose to restrict salvation to only membership in the Catholic Church.Theoretically, it works both ways. In both cases it is hypothetical here. But the dogma EENS tells us that the Holy Spirit teaches us  that there is exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church. This means that when I meet a non Christian, I know that he or she is oriented to Hell since this is the teaching of the dogma EENS which is not contradicted by Vatican Council II.It is supported by Ad Gentes 7 in Vatican Council II.

 It also means that there must only be an ecumenism of return to the Church. Since the dogma EENS is no more contradicted by Unitatis Redintigratio , Decree on Ecumenism, Vatican Council II.

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“When we’re not evangelizing well, God can still bring the light of truth to His people,” Strickland maintains. “God’s not bound [by the sacraments] … but … the language the Church uses, the sacraments are the ordinary instruments that God has given us of bringing us into a life of grace, forgiving our sins, strengthening us in that grace.” 

Lionel: Yes the Sacraments are the ordinary means of salvation and we humans do not know of any extra ordinary means of salvation.  Since if any one was saved outside the Church it could only be known to God. So we only have the ordinary means of salvation.Every one needs to accept Jesus in the Catholic Church to avoid Hell.This is why we call Jesus the Saviour. He saves all people from Hell who believe in Him and live his teachings in the Catholic Church, His Mystical Body.

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Addressing the mediation of the Catholic Church in the salvation of those outside Her, Strickland states that such is because the Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and that anyone who comes to Christ must come to Him through the Church. 

Lionel: Yes but this would also mean affirming the strict Feeneyite interpretation of the dogma EENS like in the Council of Florence and the Fourth Lateran Council. The USCCB does not do this and neither Bishop Joseph Strickland or the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican. This means that the teaching in the Bible has been changed. The Bible says outside the Church there is no salvation (John 3:5, Mark 16:16). It does not mention any exceptions.

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Even so, God can work outside the Church to affect the salvation of those known but to Him. “God is always calling His people to Himself through His Son and the power of His Spirit,” Strickland explains. “God can reach out directly to someone, or His Mother can, and bring them close to Him, using the same grace, using the same life of the Body of His Son.”

Lionel: In the fifth century the saints did not interpret invisible cases of the baptism of desire as being visible exceptions for the dogma extra ecclesiam  nulla salus. For the saints and the Magisterium of the Church, from the fifth to the 16 century, for example,  those who were outside the Church were on the way to Hell. We do not know any one who will be saved outside the Church through no fault of his own. We do not know any one in particular who will be saved outside the Church in ignorance, through no fault of his own. So we cannot posit any exception for the centuries old strict interpretation of the dogma EENS. There are no exceptions, mentioned in Vatican Council II, when LG 16 etc refer to invisible cases in our reality. 

This interview is disappointing since Terri Barber and Bishop Joseph Strickland are still choosing the politically correct approach. They are choosing to interpret Vatican Council II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the baptism of desire etc, irrationally and not rationally.

-Lionel Andrades

When Wikipedia says that the MHFM are Feeneyite it should also clarify that Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church can also be Feeneyite when they are both interpreted rationally.

 

The founder of the community Most Holy Family Monastery, in Fillmore, New York was correct about Vatican Council II.

The founder of Most Holy Family Monastery was Joseph Natale (1933-1995), who needed crutches to walk ever after contracting tuberculosis of the bone at the age of four.^[2][3] Natale entered the Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1960 as a lay postulant, but left less than a year later to lay the groundwork for his own religious community…

Even before Vatican II was finished, I knew, and knew absolutely, that it was part of a Communist conspiracy to destroy the Church. The bishops at the council wanted to democratize Catholicism, they wanted an egalitarian theology, and most of them were secret communists and Masons. They knew exactly what they were doing. My community here was the first one in the United States to see the council for what it really was, and we rejected it completely.

— Joseph Natale (as quoted by Michael Cuneo), Smoke of Satan (1999), p. 88  -Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_Holy_Family_MonasteryMost Holy Family Monastery

 Vatican Council II (irrational) has to be rejected. But Natale did not know about Vatican Council II (rational).Vatican Council II (rational) is Feeneyite. Peter and Michael Dimond at the MHFM also interpret Vatican Council II, irrationally like Natale. Then they correctly reject this version of the Council but do not affirm Vatican Council II rational. They still do not seem to know how Vatican Council II is in harmony with Feeneyite extra ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS).I have no communication with them.

Vatican Council II can only be Feeneyite .Since LG 8, LG 14, LG 16, UR 3, NA 2, and GS 22 etc can only be interpreted rationally. They are only hypothetical cases always.

According to Wikipedia the MHFM are Feeneyite because they reject the baptism of desire (BOD). But the BOD was never ever relevant to Feeneyite EENS.It never was an exception since it always refers to invisible and hypothetical cases. It is Wikipedia which is making the mistake. They are following the error in the 1949 Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston relative to Fr. Leonard Feeney. This Letter confused invisible cases of the baptism of desire as being visible exceptions for traditional EENS. Then it concluded that not everyone needs to be a member of the Catholic Church for salvation, as if we humans could know of some exception in real life.

When Wikipedia says that the MHFM are Feeneyite it should also clarify that Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church can also be Feeneyite when they are both interpreted rationally.

Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church always have a hermeneutic of continuity with Feeneyite EENS.

 The hermeneutic of rupture comes only when LG 8, LG 14,LG 15, LG 16, UR 3, NA 2, GS 22 etc, are seen as physically visible examples of salvation outside the Catholic Church .This is irrational and it is unethical for Wikipedia. This is misinformation about the Catholic Church on Wikipedia.

Critics of the MHFM like Catholic Answers, SPLC, Bill Donohue etc, need to correct their interpretation of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately the MHFM still interprets Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, irrationally, like the Vatican, which is called by them ‘the Vatican Council II sect’.

- Lionel Andrades