St. Benedict's Center under the administration of Father Feeney considers that it is doing a charity to those Catholic students who want to have the dogma of their Church clarified. "Students are too intelligent to listen to the mumbo jumbo of the interpretations--the saying of one thing in Latin and another in English," Father Feeney says. "They want their Church principles made as clear to them as the wording of the Constitution of the United States."
St. Benedict's Charity
St. Benedict's Center is, indeed, clarifying a set of principles for those students who choose to follow them, though these principles are vigorously disputed by the Archdiocese. Father Feeney is setting forth his own clarification through his scholars in their informal meetings and through the public lectures that begin tonight.
But besides his Catholic followers, Father Feeney's lecture series will also reach an audience of non-Catholics, who, according to St. Benedict's doctrine, can only obtain salvation through conversion and baptism. If these meetings can persuade non-Catholics to enter the Church, then the lecture series will, according to Father Feeney's theology, be saving souls from hell.
Salvation
The remainder of the archdiocese headed by Archbishop Cushing follows the wording of the official interpretation of Catholic dogma which is found in a book revised every ten years called "The Baltimore Catechism." The most recent revision of this work occurred last April during the height of the controversy, though there was no connection between the two. The relevant part of the Catechism says in effect that all that possess God's grace, even if they are not actual members of the Church, are considered as belonging to the soul of the Church and thus can achieve salvation.
The controversy over interpretation may soon come to a final settlement, when and if the Pope issues an "ex cathedra" statement. If the Pope rejects Father Feeney's doctrine, the Archbishop will not be able to allow the priest to go on leading souls into the ways of "bigotry and intolerance."
Meanwhile, Father Feeney begins his public meetings, and the next move is up to the Archbishop