The cardinal also exchanged a dogma for heresy mouthed by Catholics all over the world.
It was Cardinal Richard Cushing who made public the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 some three years after he received it from the Vatican. He allowed the media to misinterpret it while he remained silent. That misinterpretation is widely used by Catholics all over the world. They believe it is the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
CONFUSION OVER THE LETTER OF THE HOLY OFFICE 1949 ( Haec Suprema)
The Letter supported Fr.Leonard Feeney yet the secular media reports it was against him.
The first part of the Letter refers to doctrine and the second to discipline. Yet the two are mixed by the media and Catholics.
The first half the Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston relative to Fr. Leonard Feeney affirms the ‘dogma’ the ‘infallible’ teaching .The text of the dogma supports Fr. Feeney. It indicates everyone needs to be a visible member of the Church and there are no exceptions. (See the text of the dogma at the end of this report) It also does not refer to ‘explicit’ Baptism of desire as an exception.
So how can Fr. Leonard Feeney be in heresy?
The second half of the Letter accuses Fr. Feeney of being disobedient. Time has shown that it was the Archbishop of Boston Richard Cushing who gave us a new doctrine. It said: everybody needs to enter the church except for those with the Baptism of Desire, in invincible ignorance etc. This is heresy. He and the Jesuits were saying that everyone does not have to be a visible member of the Catholic Church and there was such a thing as an explicit baptism of desire etc.
St. Maximillian Kolbe says that if your Superior teaches heresy you are not obliged to obey. Fr. Leonard Feeney and St. Benedict centre rightly disobeyed.
In 1949 the Vatican (Holy Office) and Catholics knew that a cardinal was faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. In 2010 we know it is not necessarily true.
However the Lumen Gentium 16 text is neutral and it can be interpreted in harmony with the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Secondly the cardinal’s explicit Baptism of Desire is explicit for God only. We do not know if there ever was an explicit Baptism of desire in our lifetime.
Finally, assuming Fr. Feeney was in heresy, as the secular media allege, how can the ordinary Magisterium of a pope, or, a cardinal’s (Ottaviani) statement supersede and contradict an ex cathedra dogma, in this case, thrice defined ?
So the Catholic Church’s teaching remains unchanged: Everyone needs Catholic Faith with the Baptism of water to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and if there is someone in genuine invincible ignorance etc it will be known only to God.
So the Letter’s portion on discipline/disobedience must not be confused with the earlier section on doctrine/dogma.
Yet this happened at the time when Cardinal Cushing made changes in the Mass and this was before Vatican Council II and also contrary to the propaganda which says otherwise.
There is so much media disinformation on Feeneyism I have mentioned in an earlier post it is as if they are struggling hard these days to keep the truth away from Catholics, which is, Feeneyism is the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
Too many facts point in that direction. Discerning Catholics can see. The bias continues. Sisters, who have been granted canonical status by the Catholic Church, are pejoratively called ‘feeneyites’.
Factual errors are spread on what Catholics should believe and what the Church really teaches that now we have a leftist interpretation of the dogma outside the church there is no salvation.
The errors are so glaring, even a school boy can notice them once informed.
The same propaganda has continued for some 60 years and even educated, sincere Catholics call the Church’s teachings on salvation and non Catholic religions, a ‘mystery’.
They could also support the Jewish Left rabbis by suspending any priest or bishop who says in public, that Feeneyism is the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
It is claimed that these are changes in the Church after Vatican Council II. Even though these heresies were institutionalised before Vatican Council II, in the 1940’s in Boston.
The most glaring error seems when the media says that the Church no longer teaches that everyone needs to be a VISIBLE member of the Church for salvation.
Really?
Where is the document?
There is no Church Document which says this.
Error n.2: Fr. Leonard Feeney was in heresy for saying there is no Baptism of Desire. Even Vatican Council II and the Letter of the Holy Office say there is.
Fr. Leonard Feeney and his communities today accept the Baptism of Desire as a concept. On the website of the St. Benedict Centre, NH, USA they even have an acceptable definition of it.
We know rationally that there is no explicit or implicit Baptism of desire that we can know of.
Error 3. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium 16 says those in invincible ignorance (implicit faith) can be saved. So this contradicts the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
False, since invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire and having a good conscience are always implicit. They are never externally known. We do not know a single case of the Baptism of Desire etc.
There is no such thing as an explicit Baptism of Desire. We do not know if there has been or will be one in our lifetime. So Lumen Gentium 16 is not an exception to the infallible teaching: everybody needs to be a visible member of the Church to avoid Hell.
Error 4. Pope Pius XII said that they can be saved who have a genuine longing, desire (Mystici Corporis) so non Catholics can be saved in general.
So when you review these errors, a discerning Catholic could ask: how could Fr.Leonard Feeney be in heresy, as it is repeated often by the secular media ?
Since the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 does not state that he was excommunicated for heresy. Lumen Gentium 16 refers to only implicit (exceptional) Baptism of desire.
So if there is no case against Fr.Feeney; no factual information to claim he was in heresy, could Feeneyism, be misunderstood?
Check it out!
1: Feeneyism says everyone with no exception needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church to avoid Hell. Read the actual text of the ex cathedra dogma. He is correct.
2. Feeneyism says there is no explicit or implicit Baptism of desire.
There is no reference to the Baptism of Desire in the text of the dogma.
Baptism of desire by its very nature, aside from the dogma cannot be known explicitly or implicitly.
So, where is the Church document which refutes Feeneyism?
The dogma, and so Fr. Feeney, is in accord with Dominus Iesus 20 etc, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification on Fr. Jacques Dupuis S.J, the Catechism of the Catholic Church N.845 etc.
So the Catholic Church today like Fr. Leonard Feeney says everyone needs to enter the Church to avoid Hell (Ad Gentes 7) and if there is anyone with implicit faith, invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire etc (Lumen Gentium 16) it will be known to God only.
This means millions of people are oriented to Hell unless they convert before they die.They include Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Pentecostals, Jehowah Witnesses and other non Catholics.
‘One thing I noticed’, wrote St. Faustina Kowalski, the Divine Mercy Polish sister, whom God gave the grace to visit Hell and return to tell us about it, ‘was that most people in Hell were those who were surprised to be there’.
Feeneyism is the official teaching of the Catholic Church’s Magisterium, it is said, based on Church Documents. Feeneyites are Catholics in accord with Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7, Lumen Gentium 14, Unitatis Redintigratio 3 etc). They respect all that is good and holy in other religions(Nostra Aetate) as a preparation for non Catholics to receive the Gospel. They know that other religions are not paths to salvation and there is no theology which can say they are (CDF, Notification Dupuis 2001).
They are aware that educated non Catholics in developed cities of Europe and the USA are all oriented to Hell according to Vatican Council II. (Ad Gentes 7).This was the message also of Pope Pius XII and Cardinal Ottaviani (Letter of the Holy Office 1949) who affirmed the dogma and referred to it as the 'infallilble' teaching.So the last clear and direct public affirmation of the dogma was in 1949.
Feeneyites are Catholics in accord with Vatican Council II,which indicates all informed Jews and Muslims in Rome and Boston are oriented to Hell. They are in accord with the centuries- old unchangeable, infallible Church teaching , extra ecclesiam nulla salus, outside the church there is no salvation.
And they are referring to the ‘rigorist interpretation’ since an infallible teaching cannot have two interpretations.
As more Catholics discern, the media has a struggle to keep the lid on the truth.
CUSHINGS AIM WAS TO CONFUSE CATHOLICS?
Fr. Peter C. Phan still teaches the theology of religions in Washington and at Catholic universities where he is invited. Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington permits it, just as he permits pro abortion politicians to receive the Eucharist’
The Notification repeated that those who are in invincible ignorance or with the Baptism of Desire do not have to enter the Catholic Church for salvation. Not only is this irrational it is contrary to the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus which says everybody needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church for salvation and there are no exceptions.
Reason it out.
There cannot be an explicit Baptism of Desire. Since it is a gift given by God ‘in certain circumstances’ (Letter of the Holy Office 1949)
There cannot be an implicit Baptism of Desire that we can know. We cannot say in principle that there has been or will be a certain number of Baptism of Desires.
So when I refer to an implicit Baptism of Desire I mean a Baptism of Desire which is just a concept. An intellectual concept. A philosophical concept.
The infallible teaching is that everyone needs to be a visible member of the Church for salvation and there are no exceptions. The ex cathedra dogma rejects the Baptism of Desire as explicit or implicit!
Explicitly there is no Baptism of Desire that we can see.
Implicitly, in principle, intellectually we cannot know any case. Not even one as you suggested.
However as a possibility, a probability, as a concept there is the Baptism of Desire.
So can you make sense of the Cushing Doctrine which says everybody needs to be a member of the Catholic Church except for those in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire and a good conscience.
We do not know any case of the Baptism of Desire, explicit or implicit, and he says that they do not have to be a visible member of the Church.
So why mention it in the first place?
To confuse people?
So that Catholics no more say that everybody needs to be a visible member of the Church and there are no exceptions?
So why does the USCCB repeat the same error?
Why do they use the word invincible? Since explicitly or implicitly we do not know of any case of invincible ignorance. We cannot judge. Only God knows if someone is in this category.
If the Church declares someone is a martyr then we accept it. So how can any Catholic say everybody needs to enter the Catholic Church for salvation except for those with the Baptism of Desire and Blood?
No parish, diocese nor the Vatican has issued a statement on this issue. So all the information we have on comes from the secular media and the Catholics who believe that media naively or hold the political left position of the media. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus is now a political issue like homosexuality and abortion.
1. If a Catholic believes Fr. Feeney was excommunicated for saying that there was no explicit or implicit baptism of desire when did the Church ever issue a statement on this? It’s the media which has interpreted the Letter of the Holy Office and Fr. Feeney and his communities’ alleged beliefs.
2. If the media says that the Church accepts an explicit Baptism of Desire then why cannot the media quote a single pope, saint or Church document referring to an EXPLICIT Baptism of Desire? They do not mention an explicit or implicit Baptism of Desire.
3. When a Catholic says that the Church does not teach that everyone needs to be a VISIBLE member of the Catholic Church it is because the media repeats this lie. The Church has said it for centuries and repeated it in 1949 in the Letter of the Holy Office that everyone needs to be a VISIBLE member of the Church to go to Heaven and avoid Hell.
So the USCCB should not give us their leftist understanding of what the Church allegedly teaches, and assume it is the Magisterium. The Magisterium texts support Fr. Leonard Feeney and the media has been unable to cite a single text to claim that he was in heresy for affirming the ex cathedra dogma which never ever said those with explicit Baptism of Desire do not have to convert.
Baptism of Desire is part of the Church’s teaching I accept. But when you add the word explicit, your assuming it is external. Only the Baptism of water is explicit, external and repeatable. Even a school boy can reason this out?
I do accept that there is a Baptism of Desire and so does Fr. Leonard Feeney and his communities, but only as a concept. Theologically you can call this concept a doctrine. However the USCCB should not tacitly teach that Fr. Feeney did not accept the Baptism of desire as a concept. They do this when the USCCB does not issue a clarification when the media repeatedly says that Fr. Feeney did not accept the Baptism of Desire, not specifying if they mean an explicit or implicit Baptism of Desire.
Theologically there can not be a doctrine of the Baptism of Blood being explicit (visible) for us, nor implicit, i.e. knowable or de jure(in principle).
Theologically there can be a doctrine that God can save someone if he chooses to who has not had the Baptism of water ('without the Sacraments', CCC 1257 ) or who has only the Baptism of Blood to offer Our Lord.
Rationally we can never know any case of the Baptism of Desire, as the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 says it can happen ‘in only certain circumstances’ so it is known only to God.
So Fr. Leonard Feeney was correct in saying that there is no explicit or implicit Baptism of desire which could in any way contradict the ex cathedra dogma .Everyone with no exception needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church to avoid Hell.
This is in keeping with Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7), CCC 845 and other Magisterium documents.
It is not in conflict with Lumen Gentium 16 when you realize that there is no explicit, external, seeable, knowable, repeatable Baptism of desire. Since by its nature Baptism of Desire cannot be explcit for us but only a concept.
So when the USCCB says ‘except for those with the baptism of desire, invincible ignorance and a good conscience 'we do not reject this teaching. Neither do we misinterpret it according to Cardinal Cushing and the USCCB.
We can say everyone needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and there are no exceptions that we know of and if, anyone has the baptism of desire or blood, is in invincible ignorance or has a good conscience on the Day of Judgment it will be known to God only.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Vatican whose Prefect is Cardinal William Levada does not intervene publically.
Now years are passing since Cardinal Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State and Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the Catholic Conference of Bishops, Italy, have stated officially that Jews do not have to convert in the present times. There has been no clarification from the CDF or from the Vatican Public Affairs Department. Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Pentecostals and evangelicals interpret the Bible as saying that Jews need to convert for salvation.
‘Feeneyism ‘ is the official teaching of the Catholic Magisterium in the past and today. This is what the media wants Catholics not to know. No clarifications and contradictions are accepted on this political issue.
There is no Church Document which states Fr.Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy. The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 refers to disobedience as the reason for the excommunication. There is no text in Vatican Council II which condemns him. Lumen Gentium 16 refers to implicit(conceptual) Baptism of desire and so does not contradict Fr.Feeney who said everyone needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church.There is no pope, Church Council or saint who refers to the Baptism of Desire as explicit. So all we have is media propaganda against Fr.Leonard Feeney.
Here is the actual ex cathedra dogma referred to by Pope Pius XII in the Letter of the Holy Office in 1949 and which Fr.Leonard Feeney supported. It makes no mention of explicit Baptism of Desire. You are not likely to read the text in the secular media.
1. “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215). Ex cathedra.
2.“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.).Ex cathedra.
3.“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) Ex cathedra – from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements Regarding EENS http://nosalvationoutsideofthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/
The ex cathedra teaching says everyone needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church.
...it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 302.). Ex Cathedra
...none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation…
...No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” - (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) Ex Cathedra
We must realize that the dogma is not in conflict with Vatican Council II and the Letter of the Holy Office 1949.This is the beauty of our faith.
Of course I believe that they can be saved who have the Baptism of desire and Blood, who are in invincible ignorance or have a good conscience at the time of death. This belief that we share however must not be placed in opposition to the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
So we need to synchronize everybody needing to be a visible member of the Church with no exceptions - and our common belief that they can be saved with the Baptism of desire etc.
So how do we do it?
How do we avoid heresy? It would be heresy to say every one does not need to be a visible member of the Church. This is what Catholics are saying on a large scale when you ask them if everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church to be saved. They repeat the Cushing Doctrine: Every one needs to enter the Catholic Church EXCEPT for those with the Baptism of desire etc.
What’s the solution?
The answer is : Everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church with Catholic Faith and the Baptism of Water to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and there are no exceptions and if there is anyone saved with the Baptism of desire, a good conscience and invincible ignorance it will be known only to God.
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Of course I believe that they can be saved who have the Baptism of desire and Blood, who are in invincible ignorance or have a good conscience at the time of death. This belief that we share however must not be placed in opposition to the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
So we need to synchronize everybody needing to be a visible member of the Church with no exceptions - and our common belief that they can be saved with the Baptism of desire etc.
So how do we do it?
How do we avoid heresy? It would be heresy to say every one does not need to be a visible member of the Church. This is what Catholics are saying on a large scale when you ask them if everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church to be saved. They repeat the Cushing Doctrine: Every one needs to enter the Catholic Church EXCEPT for those with the Baptism of desire etc.
What’s the solution?
The answer is : Everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church with Catholic Faith and the Baptism of Water to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and there are no exceptions and if there is anyone saved with the Baptism of desire, a good conscience and invincible ignorance it will be known only to God.
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