I have completed a booklet entitled "Feeneyites: Catholics in Good Standing with the Church? A Response to Mr. Pete Vere, JCL
By clicking on the link to Lulu which is located on the sidebar of this Blog, one may purchase a copy of this booklet.
Paul.
Thanks for the preview Paul. Your booklet is explosive in that it paints the "reconciliation" of Father Feeney and his followers in a new light.
ReplyDeleteRemember when Sheila Rauch Kennedy complained that her husband was granted an annulment by Church officials even though there were not canonical grounds to do so? Rome reversed the so-called "annulment."
ReplyDeleteIn the same way, Canon Law was not followed in absolving Fr. Feeney and his followers from the censure [excommunication] under which they had been placed.
Your booklet shows this amply.
Mr. Vere would seem to believe that the Church has changed her teaching relative to extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. He writes, "It is clear from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) promulgated by Pope John Paul II that the Church currently promotes a less exclusive understanding of the dogma 'Outside the Church no salvation...'
ReplyDeleteNote his use of the word "currently"? This implies that the Church formerly taught otherwise. But such is not the case. The Church's teaching on EENS, as outlined in the Catechism, stretches back through the centuries.
At any rate, his opinion that "those who hold to a more restrictive understanding" of EENS are "Catholics in good standing with the Church" is, according to the Holy Office, simply not true.
The Holy Office said, "..let them who in grave peril are ranged against the Church seriously bear in mind that after 'Rome has spoken' they cannot be excused even by reasons of good faith. Certainly, their bond and duty of obedience toward the Church is much graver than that of those who as yet are related to the Church 'only by an unconscious desire.' Let them realize that they are children of the Church, lovingly nourished by her with the milk of doctrine and the sacraments, and hence, having heard the clear voice of their Mother, they cannot be excused from culpable ignorance, and therefore to them apply without any restriction that principle: submission to the Catholic Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff is required as necessary for salvation."
When one is "ranged against the Church," one is not "in good standing with the Church." One has to wonder how Mr. Vere interprets the phrase "in grave peril."
I hadn't thought of that Paul. For those who want to read Pete Vere's letter, it may be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catholicism.org/
downloads/Peter_Vere_SBC.pdf