An editorial in The Anchor has taken the view that protecting the Irish-Catholic identity of a Saint Patrick’s Day parade from homosexual activists is a “distraction” from “our Lenten call.” They also took the occasion to smear Father Leonard Feeney.
I posted a comment on the site, which, as of now, has not yet been approved. Here it is:
The editorial errs where it says that Father Leonard Feeney was “excommunicated for his extreme interpretation of St. Cyprian’s teaching, ‘Outside of the Church, there is no Salvation.'” That was not the reason given on the decree, which mentioned “grave disobedience” for refusing a summons to Rome for a canonical proceeding, the exact nature of which was kept hidden from Father Feeney. This manner of proceeding violated his canonical rights, as he knew and as he informed the Holy Office officials who summoned him.
All this is painstakingly documented in the book, “They Fought the Good Fight” by Brother Thomas Mary Sennott, M.I.C.M.
The Church’s magisterial teachings are amply clear on the issue. There are three de fide definitions of the Church on the subject. Perhaps you could share those with your readers:
https://catholicism.org/category/outside-the-church-there-is-no-salvation
My community resides in New Hampshire and not in Harvard, Mass, so I am from a different house than Brother Thomas Augustine (Dalton), M.I.C.M., with whom this editorial takes issue. The fact that Father Feeney’s communities are “indeed very much Catholic” has been affirmed by the Church.
Please see this page for confirmation:
https://catholicism.org/our-status-in-the-church.html
I applaud Brother Thomas Augustine’s actions. The homosexual activists seeking to intrude themselves into the Southie St. Patrick’s Day Parade are truculent thugs that wish to force acceptance of their objectively sinful and unnatural “lifestyle” on the rest of us. It is not loving or merciful to yield to their agenda.
The suggestion that Brother Thomas would have better handled things by quietly pulling out of the parade strikes me as a form of moral cowardice in the face of brazen attacks against Catholic faith and morals — the very patrimony that Saint Patrick bequeathed to the Irish people. Should he have maintained such a respectful silence had a band of neo-Nazis been admitted to march? Or if NAMBLA were accepted in the parade?
Had Saint Patrick remained “low key” in this approach to Ireland’s Druidic paganism, Boston’s Irish would probably be celebrating a parade in honor of Samhain rather than St. Patrick’s Day.
No need to speculate on who could march in THAT parade.
