Michael Davies on Father Feeney

As regards the question of “No salvation outside the Church,” I can assure Mr. [Atila Sinke] Guimarães that I am aware of the fact that this is the teaching of the Church and was not invented by Father Feeney. I have been studying the dogma since 1979 after I read the celebrated article “The Boston Heresy Case” in Hamish Fraser’s Approaches No. 64 of Easter 1979 which I would like to see reprinted.

Hamish paid tribute to the zeal and erudition of Father Feeney, sentiments with which I certainly concur, and makes it clear that the question of “The Dogma”, as it has come to be called, was simply an excuse to come down on Father Feeney for rocking Boston’s ecumenical boat. Unlike Mr. Guimaraes I have met members of the St. Benedict Center, including Brother Francis, whose erudition I also admire.

In my response to Mr. Guimarães I referred specifically to “the teaching of Father Feeney on no salvation outside the Church”, i.e. that it is literally true that only baptized Christians who die in Communion with the Holy See can be saved. Mr. Guimaraes tells us that there can be exception to this rule and therefore he does not accept the teaching of Father Feeney. He would, presumably, agree with me that Jews who are convinced that the old covenant still prevails and are perfectly sincere and conscientious in their observance of the Jewish law can be saved.

I will conclude by stating that I do not deny the presuppositions that Catholic conservatives and traditionalists hold. I do not have the least doubt that the opinions that I express represent those of mainstream traditionalist Catholics.

Letter from London, The Remnant, September 15, 2001