But here is the key question regarding the Feeney position:
Did Feeney–and do these orders–insist that “one of those graces” be visible or earthly membership in His Church?
IOW, was there (or is there) insistence that only those who are officially members of the Roman Catholic Church can be saved?
DJim
Sorry I was tired the other night here are some quotes to clearify:
Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the sources of revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing.[6] Some reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal salvation-----HUMANI GENERIS-- par.27
**MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI par.22:
Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. “For in one spirit” says the Apostle, “were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free.” [17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. [18] And therefore if a man refuse to hear the Church let him be considered – so the Lord commands – as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be
living the life of its one Divine Spirit. **
The Church is not only a society or body of the baptized but also of the faithful. As very clearly stated in Mytici Corporis, (Pius XII)* ‘those who are divided from one another in faith or in government cannot live in the unity of such a body, and in its one divine spirit.’*
**MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI par.57:
Finally, while by His grace He provides for the continual growth of the Church, He yet refuses to dwell through sanctifying grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body. This presence and activity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is tersely and vigorously described by Our predecessor of immortal memory Leo XIII in his Encyclical Letter Divinum Illud in these words: “Let it suffice to say that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit her soul.” [106] **
The “soul” of the Church has led many to imagine that people who are in the state of grace belong to or are members of the Mystical Body of Christ in opposition to the above Encyclicals:
yet the Holy Spirit] refuses to dwell through sanctifying grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body