TRAGIC ERRORS OF LEONARD FEENEY
                              by Fr. William Most

   In the late 1940s Leonard Feeney, S. J. began to teach that there is
   no salvation outside the Church. He was correct in saying that there
   were official teachings, even definitions, on that score. But his
   tragic error came when he adopted Protestant method, thinking that in
   that way he would be one of the only true Catholics! We spoke of his
   protestant method with good reason. First, he was excommunicated for
   disobedience, refusing to go to Rome to explain his position. Then
   the Holy Office, under Pius XII, sent a letter to the Archbishop of
   Boston, condemning Feeney's error. (It is known that Pius XII
   personally checked the English text of that letter). In the very
   first paragraph pointed out what is obvious: we must avoid private
   interpretation of Scripture -- for that is strictly Protestant. But
   then the letter said we must also avoid private interpretation of the
   official texts of the Church. To insist on our own private
   interpretation, especially when the Church contradicts that, is pure
   Protestant attitude.

   What the disobedient Feeney said amounted to this: he insisted that
   all who did not formally enter the Church would go to hell. Hence he
   had to say, and he did say, that unbaptized babies go to hell.
   Further, all adults who did not formally enter the Church - get their
   names on a parish register - would also go to hell, even if they
   never had a chance to hear there was a Church, e.g., those in the
   western hemisphere during the long centuries before Columbus.
   Therefore Feeney consigned literally millions upon millions to hell,
   even though He gave them no chance.

   Not just the documents of the Church as interpreted by the Church
   should have kept him from this: merely common sense, and the
   realization that God is not only not a monster, but is infinitely
   good - that alone should have stopped him. We have, then, most ample
   reason for calling his error tragic. Even the sexually immoral do not
   deny that God is good. Feeney does worse than they.

   I regard to the damnation of infants, tragically, Feeney cited a text
   of Pius IX (quoted below) saying that no one goes to hell without
   grave voluntary sin - babies of course have no voluntary sin. Feeney
   actually ridiculed the text of Pius IX and charged Pius IX with the
   heresy of Pelagianism, saying (in Thomas M. Sennott, They Fought the
   Good Fight, Catholic Treasures, Monrovia CA. 1987, pp. 305-06): "To
   say that God would never permit anyone to be punished eternally
   unless he had incurred the guilt of voluntary sin is nothing short of
   Pelagianism... . If God cannot punish eternally a human being who has
   not incurred the guilt of voluntary sin, how then, for example can He
   punish eternally babies who die unbaptized?"

   There is another feature of sound theological method we need to
   recall here.  If we seem to have on hand two truths, which seem to
   clash head on, and they are there even after we recheck our work, we
   must not try to force one to fit with the other. No, we must
   faithfully state both points, hoping that sometime someone will find
   how to make them fit. The Fathers did very well on this matter. For
   example, in dealing with the difficult texts of Lk 2:52 and Mk 13:32
   on the human knowledge of Jesus, most of the Fathers made two kinds
   of statements, one kind affirming ignorance, the other denying it.
   Finally, on the Lucan text St. Athanasius found how to reconcile the
   statements; later, Pope St. Gregory the great did the same for the
   Markan text. (For details see Wm. G. Most, <The Consciousness of
   Christ>).

   The same situation is found in regard to texts both of the Fathers
   and of the Magisterium on membership in the Church. One set of texts
   seems very severe, the other kind, very broad.

   For commentary on each text, please see. W. Most, <Our Father's
   Plan>, Appendix.

   a) Restrictive Tests of the Fathers

   The Shepherd of Hermas, <Similitudes> 9.16:(c. 140 AD) "The apostles
   and the teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, when they
   fell asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God preached also to
   those who had fallen asleep earlier, and they gave them the seal of
   the preaching. They therefore went down into the water with them, and
   came up again."

   St. Irenaeus, <Against Heresies> 3.24.1:c. 140-202 AD) "God places in
   the Church apostles, prophets, doctors... those who are not partakers
   of these, who do not run to the Church, deprive themselves of life
   through evil opinions and wicked working."

   Clement of Alexandria, <Stromata> 2.9:(c. 208-11 AD) "He who does not
   enter through the door... is a thief and a robber. Therefore it is
   necessary for them to learn the truth through Christ and to be saved,
   even if they happen on philosophy."(Clement also quotes verbatim the
   above text of Shepherd of Hermas).

   Origen, <Homily on Jesu Nave> 3.5:(c. 249-51 AD) "If anyone of the
   people wishes to be saved, let him come to this house, so that he can
   attain salvation, to this house in which the blood of Christ is a
   sign of redemption... . Therefore let no one persuade himself, let no
   one deceive himself: outside this house, that is, outside the Church,
   no one is saved; for if anyone goes outside, he becomes guilty of his
   own death."

   St. Cyprian, <On the Unity of the Catholic Church> 6:(c. 251 AD) "The
   power of baptism cannot be greater or more powerful, can it, than
   confession [of the faith], than suffering, such that someone who
   confesses Christ before men, is baptized in his own blood. And yet,
   neither does this baptism profit a heretic, even though after
   confessing Christ, he is killed outside the Church."

   Lactantius, <Institutes> 4.30.11:(c. 305-10 AD) "Whoever does not
   enter there [the Church] or whoever goes out from there, is foreign
   to the hope of life and salvation."

   St. Augustine, <On Nature and Grace> 2.2:(c. 415 AD) "If Christ did
   not die for no purpose, therefore all human nature can in no way be
   justified and redeemed from the most just anger of God... except by
   faith and the sacrament of the blood of Christ."

   <Against Julian> 4.3.25:(c. 421 AD) "Nor can you prove by them that
   which you want, that even infidels can have true virtues." [He is
   speaking of gentiles in Rom. 2. 14-16, whom he thinks must mean
   converted gentiles. Other gentiles could not have true virtues, and
   so could not be saved].

   St. Cyril of Alexandria, <On Psalms> 30:22:(c. 428 AD) " ... mercy is
   not obtainable outside the holy city."

   St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, <On Faith>, to Peter 38.81:(c. 500 AD) "Not
   only all pagans, but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics,
   who finish their lives outside the Catholic Church, will go into
   eternal fire... . No one, howsoever much he may have given alms, even
   if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he
   remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."

   ibid. 36.79: "Baptism can exist... even among heretics... but it
   cannot be beneficial outside the Catholic Church."

   b)Restrictive Texts of the Magisterium

   Pope Innocent III, <Profession of Faith for the Waldensians> (1208:
   DS 792): "We believe in our heart and confess in our mouth that there
   is one Church, not of heretics, but the Holy Roman Catholic apostolic
   Church, outside of which we believe no one is saved."

   Lateran Council IV (1215: DS 802): "There is one universal Church of
   the faithful, outside of which no one at all is saved."

   Pope Boniface VIII, <Unam sanctam> (1302: DS 870): "Outside of which
   there is neither salvation nor remission of sins... . But we declare,
   state and define that to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is
   altogether necessary for salvation." [The second part merely means
   there is no salvation outside the Church, for it is quoted from St.
   Thomas Aquinas, Contra errores Graecorum 36.  #1125 where context
   shows the sense].

   Pope Clement VI, <Epistle of Sept 29>, 1351: DS 1051): "No man...
   outside the faith of the Church and obedience to the Roman Pontiff
   can finally be saved."

   Council of Florence (1442: DS 1351): "It firmly believes, professes
   and preaches, that none who are outside the Catholic Church, not only
   pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can partake of
   eternal life, but they will go into eternal fire... unless before the
   end of life they will have been joined to it [the Church] and that
   the unity of the ecclesiastical body has such force that only for
   those who remain in it are the sacraments of the Church profitable
   for salvation; and fastings, alms, and other works of piety and
   exercises of the Christian soldiery bring forth eternal rewards
   [only] for them. 'No one, howsoever much almsgiving he has done, even
   if he sheds his blood for Christ, can be saved, unless he remains in
   the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. '" [Internal quote at end
   is from Fulgentius, as we saw above].

   Broad Texts of the Magisterium

   Pope Pius IX, <Quanto conficiamur moerore> (1863: DS 2866): "God...
   in His supreme goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be
   punished with eternal punishments who does not have the guilt of
   voluntary fault. But it is also a Catholic dogma, that no one outside
   the Catholic Church can be saved, and that those who are contumacious
   against the authority of the same Church [and] definitions and who
   are obstinately separated from the unity of this Church and from the
   Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter, to whom the custody of the
   vineyard was entrusted by the Savior, cannot obtain eternal
   salvation."[emphasis added].

   Pope Pius XII, <Mystici corporis> (1943: DS 3821): "They who do not
   belong to the visible bond of the Catholic Church... [we ask them to]
   strive to take themselves from that state in which they cannot be
   sure of their own eternal salvation; for even though they are ordered
   to the mystical body of the Redeemer by a certain desire and wish of
   which they are not aware [implicit in the general wish to do what God
   wills], yet they lack so many and so great heavenly gifts and helps
   which can be enjoyed only in the Catholic Church."

   Holy Office, Aug 9, 1949, condemning doctrine of L. Feeney (DS 3870):
   "It is not always required that one be actually incorporated as a
   member of the Church, but this at least is required: that one adhere
   to it in wish and desire. It is not always necessary that this be
   explicit... but when a man labors under invincible ignorance, God
   accepts even an implicit will, called by that name because it is
   contained in the good disposition of soul in which a man wills to
   conform his will to the will of God."

   Vatican II, <Lumen gentium> #16: (1964 AD) For they who without their
   own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet
   seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace,
   to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate
   of conscience, can attain eternal salvation."

   John Paul II, <Redemptoris Missio> #10 (Dec. 7, 1990): "The
   universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those
   who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the church. Since
   salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to
   all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not
   have an opportunity to come to know or accept the Gospel revelation
   or to enter the church... . For such people, salvation in Christ is
   accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious
   relationship to the church, does not make them formally a part of the
   church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their
   spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is
   the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit.
   It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free
   cooperation." [emphasis added].

   Broad Texts of the Fathers

   Pope St. Clement I, <Epistle to Corinth> 7.5-7 (c. 95 AD): "Let us go
   through all generations, and learn that in generation and generation
   the Master has given a place of repentance to those willing to turn
   to Him. Noah preached repentance, and those who heard him were saved.
   Jonah preached repentance to the Ninevites; those who repented for
   their sins appeased God in praying, and received salvation, even
   though they were aliens [allotrioi] of God."

   St. Justin Martyr, <Apology> 1.46 (c. 150 AD): "Christ is the Logos
   [Divine Word] of whom the whole race of men partake. Those who lived
   according to Logos are Christians, even if they were considered
   atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus."
   <Apology> 2.10:" Christ... was and is the Logos who is in everyone,
   and foretold through the prophets the things that were to come, and
   taught these things in person after becoming like to us in feeling."

   Shepherd of Hermas, <Vision> 2.4.1:(c. 140-55 AD): The angel asks
   Hermas who he thinks the old woman was who appeared. He thought it
   was the Sibyl: "You are wrong... . It is the Church. I said to him:
   Why then an old woman? He said: Because she was created first of all;
   for this reason she is an old woman, and because of her the world was
   established."

   <Second Clement> 14.2 (prob. c 150 A.D. ): "The books of the prophets
   and the apostles [say] that the Church is not [only] now, but from
   the beginning. She was spiritual, like also our Jesus. She was
   manifested in the last days to save us."

   St. Irenaeus, <Against Heresies> 4.28.2: (c. 140-202 AD): "There is
   one and the same God the Father and His Logos, always assisting the
   human race, with varied arrangements, to be sure, and doing many
   things, and saving from the beginning those who are saved, for they
   are those who love and, according to their generation (genean) follow
   His Logos." Ibid. 4.6.7: "For the Son, administering all things for
   the Father, completes [His work] from the beginning to the end... .
   For the Son, assisting to His own creation from the beginning,
   reveals the Father to all to whom He wills." Ibid. 4. 22. 2: "Christ
   came not only for those who believed from the time of Tiberius
   Caesar, nor did the Father provide only for those who are now, but
   for absolutely all men from the beginning, who, according to their
   ability, feared and loved God and lived justly... and desired to see
   Christ and to hear His voice."

   Clement of Alexandria, <Stromata> 7.17:(c. 20-11 AD): "From what has
   been said, I think it is clear that there is one true Church, which
   is really ancient, into which those who are just according to design
   are enrolled." Ibid 1. 5: "Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy
   was necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for
   piety... for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the law did the
   Hebrews." Ibid. 1.20.99:" Philosophy of itself made the Greeks just,
   though not to total justice; it is found to be a helper to this, like
   the first and second steps for one ascending to the upper part of the
   house, and like the elementary teacher for the [future]
   philosopher]."

   Origen, <On Canticles> 2.11-12: (c. 240 AD): "Do not think I speak of
   the spouse or the Church [only] from the coming of the Savior in the
   flesh, but from the beginning of the human race, in fact, to seek out
   the origin of this mystery more deeply with Paul as leader, even
   before the foundation of the world."

   <Against Celsus> 4.7: (c. 248 AD): "... there never was a time when
   God did not will to make just the life of men. But He always cared,
   and gave occasions of virtue to make the reasonable one right. For
   generation by generation this wisdom of God came to souls it found
   holy and made them friends of God and prophets."

   <On Romans II>, 9-10:(after 244 AD) [the law was written on hearts:
   Cf. Rom 2:14-16] "that they must not commit murder or adultery, not
   steal, not speak false testimony, that they honor father and mother,
   and similar things... and it is shown that each one is to be judged
   not according to a privilege of nature, but by his own thoughts he is
   accused or excused, by the testimony of his conscience."

   Homily on Numbers 16.1: (after 244 AD): "Since God wants grace to
   abound, He sees fit to be present... . He is present not to the
   [pagan] sacrifices, but to the one who comes to meet Him, and there
   He gives His word [Logos?]."

   Hegemonius (?) <Acts of Archelaus with Manes> 28: (c. 325-50 AD):
   "From the creation of the world He has always been with just men... .
   Were they not made just from the fact that they kept the law, 'Each
   one of them showing the work of the law on their hearts... ?'[cf. Rom
   2.14-16] For when someone who does not have the law does by nature
   the things of the law, this one, not having the law, is a law for
   himself... . For if we judge that a man is made just without the
   works of the law... how much more will they attain justice who
   fulfilled the law containing those things which are expedient for
   men?"

   Arnobius, <Against the Nations> 2.63:(c. 305 AD): "But, they say :If
   Christ was sent by God for this purpose, to deliver unhappy souls
   from the destruction of ruin - what did former ages deserve which
   before His coming were consumed in the condition of mortality? ... .
   Put aside thee cares, and leave the questions you do not understand;
   for royal mercy was imparted to them, and the divine benefits ran
   equally through all. They were conserved, they were liberated, and
   they put aside the sort and condition of mortality."

   Eusebius of Caesarea, <Church History> 1.1.4:(c. 311-25 AD): "But
   even if we [Christians] are certainly new, and this really new name
   of Christian is just recently known among the nations, yet our life
   and mode of conduct, in accord with the precepts of religion, has not
   been recently invented by us; but from the first creation of man, so
   to speak, it is upheld by natural inborn concepts of the ancient men
   who loved God, as we will here show... . But if someone would
   describe as Christians those who are testified to as having been
   righteous, [going back] from Abraham to the first man, he would not
   hit wide of the mark."

   St. Gregory of Nazianzus, <Oration> 18.5 [at funeral of his father, a
   convert]:(c. 374 AD): "He was ours even before he was of our fold.
   His way of living made him such. For just as many of ours are not
   with us, whose life makes them other from our body [the Church], so
   many of those outside belong to us, who by their way of life
   anticipate the faith and need [only] the name, having the reality."

   <Oration> 8.20 [on his sister Gorgonia]: "Her whole life was a
   purification for her, and a perfecting. She had indeed the
   regeneration of the Spirit, and the assurance of this from her
   previous life. And, to speak boldly, the mystery [baptism] was for
   her practically only the seal, not the grace."

   St. John Chrysostom, <On Romans II>. 5: (c. 391 AD): "For this reason
   they are wonderful, he [Paul, in Romans 2:14-16] says, because they
   did not need the law, and they show all the works of the law... . Do
   you not see how again he makes present that day [Judgment in 2.16]
   and brings it near... and showing that they should rather be honored
   who without the law hastened to carry out the things of the law? ...
   Conscience and reasoning suffice in place of the law. Through these
   things he showed again that God made man self-sufficient in regard to
   the choice of virtue and fleeing evil... . He shows that even in
   these early times and before the giving of the law, men enjoyed
   complete Providence. For 'what is knowable of God' was clear to them,
   and what was good and what was evil they knew."

   Homilies on John 8.1: ( c. 389 AD): "Why, then, the gentiles accuse
   us saying: What was Christ doing in former times, not taking care...
   ? We will reply: Even before He was in the world, He took thought for
   His works, and was known to all who were worthy."

   St. Ambrose, <On Cain and Abel> 2.3.11:(after 375 AD): "Our price is
   the blood of Christ... . Therefore He brought the means of health to
   all so that whoever perishes, must ascribe the cause of his death to
   himself, for he was unwilling to be cured when he had a remedy... .
   For the mercy of Christ is clearly proclaimed on all."

   St. Augustine, <City of God> 18.47: (413-26 AD): "Nor do I think the
   Jews would dare to argue that no one pertained to God except the
   Israelites, from the time that Israel came to be... they cannot deny
   that there were certain men even in other nations who pertained to
   the true Israelites, the citizens of the fatherland above, not by
   earthly but by heavenly association."

   <Retractions> 1.13.3: (426-27 AD): "This very thing which is now
   called the Christian religion existed among the ancients, nor was it
   lacking from the beginning of the human race until Christ Himself
   came in the flesh, when the true religion, that already existed,
   began to be called Christian."

   <Epistle> 102.11-13, 15: (406-12 AD): "Wherefore since we call Christ
   the Word [Logos], through whom all things were made... under whose
   rule [was/is] every creature, spiritual and corporal... so those from
   the beginning of the human race who believed in Him and understood
   His somewhat [utcumque] and lived according to His precepts devoutly
   and justly, whenever and wherever they were, beyond doubt they were
   saved through Him... . And yet from the beginning of the human race
   thee were not lacking persons who believed in Him, from Adam up to
   Moses, both in the very people of Israel... and in other nations
   before He came in the flesh."

   St. Prosper of Aquitaine, <De vocatione omnium gentium> 2.5: (c. 450
   AD): "...  according to it [Scripture] ... we believe and devoutly
   confess that never was the care of divine providence lacking to the
   totality of men... . To these, however [who have not yet heard of
   Christ] that general measure of help, which is always given from
   above to all men, is not denied."

   St. Nilus, <Epistle 1>. 154:(perhaps c. 430 AD): "In every nation the
   one who fears God and does justice is acceptable to Him. For it is
   clear that such a one is acceptable to God and is not to be cast
   aside, who at his own right time flees to the worship of the blessed
   knowledge of God."

   St. Cyril of Alexandria, <Against Julian> 3.107: (433-41 AD): "For if
   there is One over all, and there is no other besides Him, He would be
   Master of all, because He was Maker of all. For He is also the God of
   the gentiles, and has fully satisfied by laws implanted in their
   hearts, which the Maker has engraved in the hearts of all [cf. Rom
   2.14-16]. For when the gentiles, [Paul] says, not having the law, do
   by nature the things of the law, they show the work of the law
   written on their hearts. But since He is not only the Maker and God
   of the Jews [cf. Rom 3.29] but also of the gentiles... He sees fit by
   His providence to care not only for those who are of the blood of
   Israel, but also for all those upon the earth."

   Theodoret of Cyrus, <Interpretation of the Epistle to Romans>
   2.14-16:(425-50 AD): "For they who, before the Mosaic law, adorned
   their life with devout reasonings and good actions, testify that the
   divine law called for action, and they became lawgivers for
   themselves... . He [St. Paul] shows that the law of nature was
   written on hearts... . According to this image, let us describe the
   future judgment and the conscience of those accepting the charge and
   proclaiming the justice of the decision."

   <Remedy for Greek Diseases> 6.85-86:(429-37 AD): "But if you say: Why
   then did not the Maker of all fulfill this long ago? You are blaming
   even the physicians, since they keep the stronger medicines for last;
   having used the milder things first, they bring out the stronger
   things last. The all-wise Healer of our souls did this too. After
   employing various medicines... finally He brought forth this
   all-powerful and saving medicine.

   Pope St. Leo the Great, <Sermon> 23.4: (440-61 AD): "So God did not
   take are of human affairs by a new plan, or by late mercy, but from
   the foundation of the world He established one and the same cause of
   salvation for all. For the grace of God by which the totality of the
   saints always had been justified was increased when Christ was born,
   but did not begin [then]."

   Pope St. Gregory the Great, <Epistle VII>. 15: (540-604 AD): "When He
   descended to the underworld, the Lord delivered from the prison only
   those who while they lived in the flesh He had kept through His grace
   in faith and good works."

   <Homilies on Ezekiel> 2.3: "The passion of the Church began already
   with Abel, and there is one Church of the elect, of those who
   precede, and of those who follow... . They were, then, outside, but
   yet not divided from the holy Church, because in mind, in work, in
   preaching, they already held the sacraments of faith, and saw that
   loftiness of Holy Church."

   Primasius, Bishop of Hadrumetum, <On Romans> 2.14-16:(c. 560 AD):
   "'By nature they do the things of the law... . ' He [Paul] speaks
   either of those who keep the law of nature, who do not do to others
   what they do not want to be done to themselves; or, that even the
   gentiles naturally praise the good and condemn the wicked, which is
   the work of the law; or, of those who even now, when they do anything
   good, profess that they have received from God the means of pleasing
   God... . 'And their thoughts in turn accusing or even defending, on
   the day when God will judge the hidden things of men.' He speaks of
   altercations of thought... . and according to these we are to be
   judged on the day of the Lord."

   St. John Damascene, <Against Iconoclasts> 11:(late 7th cent. to 754
   AD): "The creed teaches us to believe also in one Holy Catholic and
   Apostolic church of God. The Catholic Church cannot be only
   apostolic, for the all-powerful might of her Head, which is Christ,
   is able through the Apostles to save the whole world. So there is a
   Holy Catholic Church of God, the assembly of the Holy Fathers who are
   from the ages, of the patriarchs, of prophets, apostles, evangelists,
   martyrs, to which are added all the gentiles who believe the same
   way."

   Conclusions from the Above Texts

   1. Following proper theological method, the Fathers and the
   Magisterium saw two things: a)the Church is necessary for salvation;
   b)In some way God must make provision for those who do not find the
   Church. This was already stated in Romans 3.29 by St. Paul. If He did
   not do that, He would act as though He were not their God- He would
   condemn millions to hell who never had a chance!.  Such a God could
   not be a God at all, but a monster.

   2. In an effort to find how to fit the two together, most of them
   expressed a very broad concept of membership in the Church. Then one
   can say that there is no salvation outside the Church, but that the
   concept of membership is very broad, and covers even those who do not
   find the Church.

   3. The early Magisterium texts at first seem very stringent. It is
   likely they had in mind those who culpably reject the Church - the
   words of Pius IX about those who are contumacious and obstinate fit
   with this and did not apply to those who through no fault of their
   own do not find the Church. The words of Romans 3.29 call for this
   interpretation.

   Later Magisterium texts speak of those who pertain to the Church or
   are joined to the Church by even an unconscious desire, contained in
   the will to do what is right. John Paul II spoke of a mysterious
   grace.

   Our proposal, expressed above in our comments on LG 5 do not
   contradict these things. Rather, they try to fill in, taking a lead
   from St. Justin that some in the past could have been Christians
   because they followed the Logos, who is in all. We attached the
   thought of St. Justin to Romans 2:14-16. This is not strained, for
   when we say the Logos, a Spirit is present, we really mean He is
   producing an effect: His presence is not spatial. What effect does He
   produce?  He produces the effect of making known to them interiorly
   what the law requires, so that the law is written on their hearts, as
   Rom 2:15 said, following Jeremiah 31:33. (All actions done by the
   Three Divine Persons outside the Divine nature are common work to all
   three. Cf. DS 800. Hence we may say God did it, or the Logos did it,
   or the Spirit of Christ - all mean the same).

   Then, if, for example Socrates - explicitly mentioned by St. Justin -
   follows the law on his heart, Socrates does not know the source of
   that law. It is really the Spirit of Christ who writes it. In
   accepting it, Socrates objectively accepts the Spirit of Christ.
   Since he accepts and follows that Spirit, he of course follows the
   Logos. But in Romans 8:9 we hear that "If anyone does not have the
   Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." So then, one who does
   have and follow that Spirit, does belong to Christ . But to belong to
   Christ in St. Paul's language means to be a member of Christ - which
   is a member of the Church, by substantial membership, even though
   without formal external adherence.

   So people of this sort who follow the law on their hearts are members
   of the Church, and as such, can be saved. This fits especially well
   with the words of Vatican II in LG 16.

   We are not saying, of course, that the Baptist church, for example,
   is a component part of the Catholic Church. No we merely say that
   some who are Baptists (or other types) can, if they fill the
   conditions given above, become substantially, not formally, members
   of the Catholic Church as individuals, and so can be saved.

   When Feeney was old, some church authorities out of sorrow for him,
   let him be reconciled to the Church. As part of the unfortunate
   looseness we se so often today, they did not demand that he recant.
   So he did not. As a result, some former followers of his came back to
   the Church. Others even today insist that the lack of demanding a
   recantation meant Feeney had been right all along. Of course not. We
   have proved that abundantly with official texts above and the texts
   of the Fathers of the Church.

   Let us add one more thing. In the parable of the talents, the man who
   hid his talent told the master he knew the master was a hard man. The
   master replied that he would judge him out of his own mouth, and
   condemned him. So when a Feenyite comes up for judgment, we pray that
   God may not follow the pattern given in the parable and say: You
   insisted I was a monster. Very good, I will be a monster to you. Hell
   is your place.


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