Leonard Feeney
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Fr. Leonard Feeney, S.J. (1897-1978) was an American priest who followed a rigid interpretation of the Catholic doctrine extra ecclesiam nulla salus, or "outside the church there is no salvation", denying baptism of blood and baptism of desire as "heretical innovations" and believing that all unbaptized human beings (in the Catholic sense of Baptism) were not saved but went to Hell. He was officially excommunicated in 1953 by Pope Pius XII for refusing to submit to ecclesiastical authority, but his supporters claim that the excommunication was invalid because the correct procedure was not followed. He was reconciled to the Holy See several years before his death by Pope Paul VI, but was not required to retract his position on the Baptism doctrine in question, which is inscribed on his tombstone. Even today many of his followers, who are in good standing with the local Roman Catholic dioceses, are allowed to adhere to his strict theological interpretations.
[edit] Early life
Fr. Leonard Feeney was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on February 15, 1897. He was the oldest of four children. There were three boys and one girl in his family. All the boys became priests. Fr. Feeney entered the seminary at an early age and was ordained in 1927. After ordination, he studied at Oxford University for a time, and upon his return to America, he taught at Boston College.
Fr. Feeney was a gifted writer and the author of many books. In 1934 he published a collection of essays entitled Fish on Fridays; this became a best seller and Feeney became a celebrity in many Roman Catholic homes. In the mid-1930’s, Fr. Feeney was the literary editor of the famous Jesuit America magazine. He published a biography of Mother Seton and other works as well.
In 1952 Bread of Life appeared. This is a collection of lectures that were given by Fr. Feeney at St. Benedict Center from 1942 to 1952. In the Foreword to the first edition, Fr. Feeney wrote:
| I have been persuaded by the members of my Order, The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to publish some of the talks I have been giving on Thursday evenings at Saint Benedict Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the past ten years. |
Bread of Life is a significant work because in it, Fr. Feeney sets forth his theological position with regard to Justification, Salvation and Baptism.
The name of Fr. Leonard Feeney is bound intimately to that of St. Benedict Center. This is true even though Fr. Feeney was not the founder of St. Benedict Center. The Center was established by three lay persons in Cambridge, Massachusetts in March of 1940. The founders were: Mrs. Catherine Clarke, Christopher Huntington, and Avery Dulles. This is the same Avery Dulles whose father was the late John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower. Avery Dulles was a convert to the Catholic Church and went on to become a Jesuit priest and is now a cardinal of the Catholic Church.
The mission of the St. Benedict Center was to provide a safe haven for Catholic students attending Harvard University. It was to be a place where these young people could go to learn about the Faith and to be bolstered in its practice. It was also to be a place where interested non-Catholics could go to find out about the Catholic Church.
Fr. Feeney was introduced to the St. Benedict Center in 1942 by a friend of Mrs. Catherine Clarke. He was later asked to become spiritual director at the Center. This he agreed to do with the permission of his Jesuit superior. At first, Fr. Feeney worked at the Center on a part-time basis. But by 1945 his work at the Center was so time consuming that he sought and received permission from his superior to work there full time.
It was about this same time, as well, that Fr. Feeney began his search for what may be called the doctrinal missing link that would explain the corruption of the Catholic Faith in America, as he perceived it. By 1945 Fr. Feeney apparently considered that the Catholic Faith, as it was practiced in this country, was essentially defective. He reasoned, it seems, that this condition was caused by the neglect of particular truths of the Catholic Faith. And so he sought to find this "displaced" doctrine.
This missing link, he believed, would explain the transition from the teaching of sound Catholic doctrine to doctrinal corruption. His search lasted two years until he discovered the missing doctrine in 1947. In July of 1947, he announced "to the center that surely Extra ecclesiam nulla salus ("Outside the Church there is no salvation") was the 'displaced' linchpin doctrine they sought and which the Church needed to reaffirm."
The doctrine Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, (hereafter abbreviated EENS), thus became the controversial center of Fr. Feeney's doctrines. In time, his name was so closely associated with it that many came to believe that his eventual excommunication was due to his rigid version of this doctrine, which is incorrect. As we have already pointed out, even The New York Times reported that Fr. Feeney was "excommunicated... for preaching that there was no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church." [The New York Times, Feb. 1, 1978,p.B2.]
[edit] Early Conflicts
It was in July of 1947 that Fr. Feeney announced his discovery of the ‘displaced’ linchpin doctrine. But contrary to a fairly common perception, Fr. Feeney’s troubles did not begin with the discovery of the doctrine. There were already problems between Fr. Feeney and his Jesuit superiors and between St. Benedict Center and the Archdiocese of Boston even before Fr. Feeney’s “great” discovery that the Catholic Church taught that she was the one institution established by Our Lord for the salvation of mankind.
One source of difficulty was the spirit of independence that prevailed at the Center. When St. Benedict Center transformed its lecture program into St. Benedict Center School, neither the Society of Jesus nor the Archdiocese of Boston was consulted. For the Center and Fr. Feeney to do such a thing without consulting the Archdiocese or his Jesuit superiors would quite understandably cause difficulties.
In the 1940s, bishops ruled their dioceses with authority according to the provisions of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Since the Code gave them authority over schools, it is not hard to understand that establishing a school in the 1940s without the permission of the local ordinary would cause problems. In their commentary on Canon 1381, the canonists Abbo and Hannan say this:
- "The religious training of youth in all schools whatever, is subject to the authority and the supervision of the Church... In a similar way they [i.e, local ordinaries] have the right to approve the instructors in religion and the textbooks of religion; and even, to protect religion and morals, to demand that both the instructors and the textbooks be removed. The rights and duties set forth in this canon are not restricted to schools established by the Church." — Drs. John A. Abbo & Jerome D. Hannan, The Sacred Canons, St. Louis, MO., B. Herder Book Co, 1960, Vol. II, p. 611.
Furthermore, Fr. Feeney also refused to allow other Jesuits to help out at the Center. This refusal did not go over well with his Jesuit superiors, who had allowed him to work at the Center in the first place after making it clear that they supported his work at the Center.
Then, of course, there came the great controversy which followed Fr. Feeney’s so-called discovery of the doctrine, EENS. Fr. Feeney’s Jesuit superiors changed view sharpened in the summer of 1947. It was that summer when Fr. Feeney, constantly discussing the matter with other center faculty and members, determined which was the ‘displaced’ doctrine.
[edit] Major conflict
The following summer Fr. Feeney was informed by his Jesuit superior that he was being transferred from St. Benedict Center in Cambridge to Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. Though Fr. Feeney was not happy about the transfer, he nevertheless obeyed. He was a Jesuit. He had a vow of obedience. He had been assigned to the Center by his superior. Now his superior was assigning him some place else, which he had every right to do.
Fr. Feeney, for his part, packed his bags and left St. Benedict Center for his new assignment. But shortly after his departure from the Center he was visited at Holy Cross College by two young men from the Center. They pleaded with him to return. They wanted him to at least hear what the others at the Center had to say about the subject of why he should remain with them. Fr. Feeney agreed to go back to hear what they had to say. He met with the people at the Center. He listened to their plea that he stay. And he made his decision. His decision was to remain at St. Benedict Center in spite of the command of his Provincial Superior to leave. He would disobey.
Fr. Feeney’s decision to stay was communicated to his Provincial Superior by the members of the Center. "We are hereby informing you," they wrote, "that by our unanimous request Father Feeney will continue to lead our work until we get a fair hearing from higher authorities." The letter to Fr. Feeney’s Provincial was dated September 9, 1948. The Provincial did not deign to answer the letter from St. Benedict Center, but he wrote Fr. Feeney the next day. His letter began: "For your sake and for the Society's, I plead with you to end all connection with St. Benedict’s Center at once and to report to Holy Cross next Monday."
The following month on December 29, 1948, Fr. Feeney’s superior wrote to him again ordering him to leave St. Benedict Center and to report to his new assignment. He was told that another priest would be sent to the Center to replace him. He was also informed that his priestly faculties to hear confessions would cease on December 31 of that year. Again Fr. Feeney disobeyed.
[edit] Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Fr. Feeney’s refusal to obey was followed by the establishment of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or, in Latin, the Mancipia Immaculati Cordis Mariae, abbreviated as M.I.C.M, which he would later refer to as "my Order." From now on, Fr. Feeney no longer used the initials S.J. but M.I.C.M. The Mancipia was founded on January 17, 1949, and the founders officially were Fr. Feeney and Mrs. Catherine Clarke, who took the name "Sr. Catherine" as a religious. But she continued to live with her husband "Hank." At first the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart made a vow of obedience. Later they added a vow of chastity. This presented a major difficulty because many of the members were married with children. Their marital status and their children presented two serious problems.
As for the marriage problem, Canon 542 makes it very plain that "Married persons for the duration of their marriage" "are invalidly admitted to the novitiate." [Abbo & Hannan, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 559, 558.] This means that they cannot become religious as long as their spouse is alive even though they may be "separated" and even if "the other spouse consents that his spouse may enter religion."
[edit] Communal Raising of Children
The other problem was the children. What were they to do with the children? The solution they adopted was a strange one by any standard. It was to raise the children communally. The decision to raise them communally was made while everyone still lived in Cambridge. The Center’s married couples, it seems, wanted to live as religious.
The decision to raise the children communally was the solution to that problem, it is what lay behind the decision. It also launched the Slaves into uncharted waters. In modem times, no Catholic religious association has attempted anything like it. If someone in the historical past has tried it, the example does not come to mind - apart from heretical movements such as the Cathars. In any event, once the zeal and earnestness of the married couples and other younger center members prevailed over the caution of Fr. Feeney and Sr. Catherine, some procedure had to be adopted.
[edit] Suspension and Excommunication
On April 18, 1949, Fr. Feeney was suspended from his priestly duties and Catholics were forbidden to take part in the activities of the St. Benedict Center. Fr. Feeney responded the next day by saying that his removal from St. Benedict Center was invalid. One of his superiors, Fr. Louis Gallagher, called Fr. Feeney to tell him that the sanctions would be lifted if he left St. Benedict Center and went to Holy Cross College. But Fr. Feeney refused to leave. He invoked his conscience as a justification for remaining at St. Benedict Center.
In a statement prepared for the press, he said: "It was and is a matter of conscience to me in the sanctity of my priesthood, as I openly declared to every superior I could contact."
A few days later, on April 21, 1949, Fr. Feeney received another command from his Provincial Superior to report to Holy Cross College. This command was given to him in virtue of Fr. Feeney’s vow of obedience. Fr. Feeney again refused to go.
Three and a half months later, on August 8, 1949, the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office wrote to Richard Cushing, Archbishop of Boston — and later Cardinal — on the subject of the necessity of the Church for salvation. [NB: The full text of the letter was published in October of 1952 in The American Ecclesiastical Review CXXVII, 4 (Oct., 1952), pp. 307-315.] This decree of the Holy Office was voted on in plenary session on Wednesday, July 27, 1949. The Prefect of the Holy Office, Pope Pius XII, approved the decree on Thursday, July 28, 1949.
Considering that the acts of disobedience on the part of Fr. Feeney were both grave and numerous and that he intended to persevere in the dispositions that produced these acts and thus had no intention of amending his ways, Fr. Feeney was expelled from the Jesuit Order on October 10, 1949.
On September 4, 1952, Archbishop Cushing summoned Fr. Feeney to appear before him no later than October 4, 1952. He called upon Fr. Feeney to make his submission to the local ordinary and to the Holy See. Fr. Feeney was informed that the Congregation of the Holy Office, with the approval of Pope Pius XII, had put Fr. Feeney and St. Benedict Center under interdict.
On September 24, 1952, a letter was sent from St. Benedict Center to Pope Pius XII in which the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office was charged with heresy. The heresy, the letter said, was contained in the August 8, 1949, letter entitled "Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston."
On October 25, 1952, Cardinal Pizzardo, who was then the Secretary of the Holy Office, wrote to Fr. Feeney from Rome, and in the name of the Holy Office. He said:
- "The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office has been obliged repeatedly to make your teaching and conduct in the Church the object of its special care and attention, and recently, after having again carefully examined and calmly weighed all the evidence collected in your cause, it has found it necessary to bring this question to a conclusion.
- "However, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, in His tender regard and paternal solicitude for the eternal welfare of souls committed to His supreme charge, has decreed that, before any other measure be carried into effect, you be summoned to Rome for a hearing. Therefore, in accordance with the express bidding and by the special authority of the Supreme Pontiff, you are hereby ordered to proceed to Rome forthwith and there to appear before the Authorities of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office as soon as possible."
Fr. Feeney did not obey this summons. He responded instead with a letter dated October 30, 1952. The following month, in November of 1952, Fr. Feeney received a second letter summoning him to Rome. He was ordered to present himself before the Holy Office no later than December 31, 1952. He was told that if he failed to obey, his disobedience would be made public along with the canonical penalties. Fr. Feeney was also informed that his expenses for the trip to Rome would be paid by the Apostolic Delegate.
But Fr. Feeney refused to comply with this second command to appear before the Holy Office. Instead he responded with a long letter dated December 2, 1952. In early January 1953, Fr. Feeney received yet a third letter from Rome. By this letter he was ordered to appear before the Holy Office no later than January 31, 1953, under pain of excommunication for failure to appear.
Fr. Feeney refused to go. Once again he disobeyed the command of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, and this for the third time. He responded with another letter, dated January 13, 1953, in which he accused the Holy Office of outrageous, barbarous behavior and with heresy. On February 4, 1953, the Holy Office met in Plenary Session and declared Fr. Leonard Feeney to be excommunicated. The decree of excommunication was dated February 13, 1953. The text is as follows:
- "Since the priest Leonard Feeney, a resident of Boston (Saint Benedict Center), who for a long time has been suspended from his priestly duties on account of grave disobedience of Church Authority, being unmoved by repeated warnings and threats of incurring excommunication ipso facto, has not submitted, the Most Eminent and Reverend Fathers, charged with safeguarding matters of faith and morals, in a Plenary Session held on Wednesday, 4 February 1953, declared him excommunicated with all the effects of the law.
- "On Thursday, February 12, 1953, Our Most Holy Lord Pius XII, by Divine Providence Pope, approved and confirmed the decree of the Most Eminent Fathers, and ordered that it be made a matter of public law.
- "Given at Rome, at the Headquarters of the Holy Office, 13 February 1953."
[edit] The Authority of the Holy Office
Fr. Feeney was ordered in virtue of his vow of obedience to disassociate himself from the St. Benedict Center and report to the Holy Cross College. He disobeyed. He was then summoned by his ordinary, that is, Archbishop Cushing of Boston, to submit to his authority. He disobeyed. Subsequently he was ordered by the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office to appear before it. Three times he was summoned; three times he disobeyed, though it must not be forgotten that he was reconciled completely to the Church before death.
[edit] Reconciliation
In 1974 Fr. Leonard Feeney SJ was reconciled and absolved from the excommunication by Pope Paul VI and special Vatican delegates. Many of his followers were subsequently reconciled to the local diocese. They could retain their strict interpretation of the Roman Catholic Dogma Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, as diversity in the evaluation of the practical implications of EENS, according to diocesan officials, had to be tolerated. Most of his followers adhere to the Tridentine Mass under the 1988 Ecclesia Dei Indult.
[edit] External links
- The original St Benedict Center -- now a Benedictine Abbey at Still River, Mass.
- St Benedict Center NH -- A religious center run by supporters of Leonard Feeney in New Hampshire.
- St Benedict Center SR -- Another center located in Still River, Mass.
- Leonard Feeney in the Context of Jansenism -- Provides many resources related to Feeney, the doctrine in question of "no salvation outside the Catholic Church", and to related historical developments in RC soteriology
- Site critical of Fr. Feeney
- "The Case of Fr. Leonard Feeney" -- Essay examining Leonard Feeney's life and excommunication.
