Feeneyites

[Archbishop 10-K]

Does anyone know the official Church position on Feeneyites? They believe that only an officially baptized Catholic can be saved, no matter what. I've seen some claim that even baptism of blood is a heresy.

My main question for a Feeneyite would be this: I'm not actually baptized yet. I have to wait til April, probably, to be baptized into the Church. What if I die in a car crash before then? Do Feeneyites just do away with RCIA?

 

[DJ B.K.]

What are feeneyites?

 

[Lifesaver]

Some heretical group, who in their drive to make salvation more exclusive (and unjust too) quite possibly jeopardize their own.

 

[Carrye]

An excerpt from Karl Keating's Letter on Fr. Feeney's site:

January 13, 2004

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:

In the 1930s and early 1940s Fr. Leonard Feeney (1897-1978) was known to the public mainly as a writer of better-than-average poetry and of popular books such as "Fish on Friday." From the late 1940s until his death he was known instead for his rigorist interpretation of the maxim "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" ("no salvation outside the Church"). Adherents to his interpretation became known as "Feeneyites."

Ordered to stop teaching his interpretation, Feeney refused and was excommunicated, not technically for teaching heresy but for disobedience. He was reconciled to the Church before his death, and the excommunication was lifted. Some of his followers have tried to construe the reconciliation as a Vatican affirmation of Feeney's theology, but, since the excommunication did not extend beyond a matter of obedience, the lifting of it did not extend any further.

 

[Brian Daniel]

I was acquainted with a Feeneyite, and he was kind of weird. He would go to the indult mass at the San Fernando Mission, and during the credo, he would shout this part: "et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem pecattorum." He was a sort of a trouble maker for Cardinal Mahony, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Carrye]

He was a sort of a trouble maker for Cardinal Mahony, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing.

I tend to agree, though it's too bad he was causing problems in this way.

 

[Brian Daniel]

I tend to agree, though it's too bad he was causing problems in this way.

He didn't cause problems at mass, other than yelling part of the creed instead of saying it. I understand that he once knelt in front of Cardinal Raj, as he called him, and tried kissing the Cardinals ring, calling him "your holiness."

Are you subject to Cardinal Mahony? Have you ever heard of the defrauct Bishop Patrick Ziemann?

 

[AMDG]

Just want to say that there IS "no salvation outside the Church" (read that Jesus saves)--unfortunately Feeney taught that this meant "no one but baptized Catholics would be saved" and we know that that is just plain false on many levels.

Don't think Feeneyites are told to yell out part of the creed no more than those that hold hands during the Our Father at Mass are told to do so. The poor man probably wanted to make a point and thought he was giving honor to God, just as the hand-holders at Mass think they are giving honor to God and this is the way to show "unity" with their neighbor.

 

[Brian Daniel]

Just want to say that there IS "no salvation outside the Church" (read that Jesus saves)--unfortunately Feeney taught that this meant "no one but baptized Catholics would be saved" and we know that that is just plain false on many levels.

Don't think Feeneyites are told to yell out part of the creed no more than those that hold hands during the Our Father at Mass are told to do so. The poor man probably wanted to make a point and thought he was giving honor to God, just as the hand-holders at Mass think they are giving honor to God and this is the way to show "unity" with their neighbor.

It is more than that. He published anti-Mahony propaganda, although I have no sympathy for Cardinal Raj after how he treated Mother Angelica who questioned his writings. This Feenyite also was into a questionable publication called "Gnosis," for which he was a writing contributor. Basically, he was nuts.