Leonard Feeney
Father Leonard Feeney (b. Lynn, Massachusetts February 18, 1897 - d. Ayer, Massachusetts January 30, 1978 )[1] was a U.S. Jesuit priest who defended the strict interpretation of the Roman Catholic doctrine, extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside the Church there is no salvation"), arguing that baptism of blood and baptism of desire are unavailing and that therefore no non-Catholics will be saved.[1][2] He fought against what he perceived to be the liberalization of Catholic doctrine.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
Feeney had a storied life, first as a well-known Roman Catholic writer; he later fell from favour with the Roman Catholic Church after he insisted that only Roman Catholics can go to heaven and that everyone else will be damned.
On 8 August 1949, the Holy Office sent an official declaration of the meaning of the dogma extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the church there is no salvation), which Feeney refused to accept.[3] After repeatedly refusing summons to Rome, Feeney was excommunicated on 13 February 1953 by the Holy See for persistent disobedience to legitimate Church authority, and the decree of excommunication was later published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. His followers said that his excommunication was invalid because Feeney was not given a reason for his summons.[4] Following his excommunication, Feeney set up a community called the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[1][2][5] He was reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church in 1972, but was not required to retract or recant his interpretation of "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus", which is inscribed on his tombstone [6] . Speaking two decades after the controversy Cardinal Avery Dulles judged Feeney's doctrine on a series of lectures not having to do with "extra Ecclesiam..." to be quite sound.[citation needed](Dulles' reflections on Feeney's life did not endorse Feeney's views on extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, and spoke only to his theology, not his political views on issues such as Zionism.)[7]
[edit] The Point
Feeney was editor of "The Point," which ran a mixture of theological and political articles, many of them branded anti-semitic by Feeney's critics. The newsletter frequently contained sentiments such as:
"Those two powers, the chief two in the world today, are Communism and Zionism. That both movements are avowedly anti-Christian, and that both are in origin and direction Jewish, is a matter of record." (September 1958)
"As surely and securely as the Jews have been behind Freemasonry, or Secularism, or Communism, they are behind the “anti-hate” drive. The Jews are advocating tolerance only for its destructive value — destructive, that is, of the Catholic Church. On their part, they still keep alive their racial rancors and antipathies." (January 1959)
A single year, 1957, saw the following article titles:
January: "Jewish Invasion of Our Country--Our Culture Under Siege"
February: "When Everyone Was Catholic--The Courage of the Faith in the Thirteenth Century"
March: "Dublin's Briscoe Comes to Boston"
April: "The Fight for the Holy City--Efforts of the Jews to Control Jerusalem"
May: "Our Lady of Fatima Warned Us"
June: "The Rejected People of Holy Scripture: Why the Jews Fear the Bible"
July: "The Judaising of Christians by Jews--Tactics of the Church's Leading Enemies"
August: "A Sure Defense Against the Jews--What Our Catholic Bishops Can Do for Us"
September: "An Unholy People in the Holy Land--The Actions of the Jews"
October: "The Jewish Lie About Brotherhood--the Catholic Answer--Israeli Brotherhood"
November: "Six Pointers on the Jews"
Feeney has been described as Boston's homegrown version of Father Charles Coughlin, a priest also accused of antisemitism.[8]
The young Robert Kennedy attended a meeting of students during his Harvard days at which he stood up and challenged Feeney, later storming out, following the priest's assertion that there was no salvation outside the Catholic faith.[9]
[edit] See also
- Feeneyism, a pejorative name for Feeney's theology
- Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the community he founded
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Neumann, John. "A Latter-Day Athanasius: Father Leonard Feeney". Crusade of Saint Benedict Center, Richmond. http://catholicism.org/a-latter-day-athanasius-father-leonard-feeney.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- ^ a b "Feeney Forgiven". Time Magazine. 1974-10-14. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908875,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- ^ Letter of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office
- ^ Michael J. Mazza, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus: Father Feeney makes a comeback
- ^ "Our History". Sisters of Saint Benedict Center, Still River. http://sistersofstbenedictcenter.org/Our%20History.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.[dead link]
- ^ Photograph of the Graves of Father Feeney and Sister Catherine Goddard Clarke
- ^ http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10724
- ^ "The death of American antisemitism", Spencer Blakeslee, p. 93, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, ISBN 0275965082
- ^ The Kennedy Legacy, Ted Sorensen, p. 27-28, Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1970
[edit] External links
- The Father Feeney Archive - the online archive of the writings of Father Leonard Feeney
- The Point by Father Feeney - an online archive of all issues of Feeney's magazine
- Documents on the Excommunication
- Fr. Feeney and Catholic Doctrine
- Fr. Feeney, a Fact Sheet
- Staunch Catholic: The Life & Times of Fr. Leonard Feeney (Free Audio book) by William H. Kennedy
