Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: OLD REGGIE
Feeney was reinstated later in life and was not required to recant anything. If he had been guilty of heresy it would have been necessary for him to recant his "error".

Ted Kennedy has never been excommunicated, and he is allowed to give speeches in which he shrieks that abortion is a woman's right, and he is allowed to received Communion, and has never been required to recant any of his hundreds of statements that abortion is a wonderful, sacred freedom. So he must be proclaiming the truth, right?

And you have contradicted yourself, as Feeneyites always do on this point: You say: 1) Feeney wasn't excommunicated for heresy. 2) He was reinstated without having to recant anything.

My question: If he wasn't excommunicated for heresy, then why would he be required to recant anything when the excommunication was lifted?

Further question: Do you know the function of excommication? It is a "medicinal penalty." Its application is entirely a matter of prudential judgment. You are using the process of excommunication as though it somehow carried the full weight of the Church's infallibility.

The Church has ALWAYS engaged in reformulations of its teaching, precisely because previous formulations have been insufficiently explicit, or have been misunderstood. The Nicene Creed is later than, and more explicit than, the Apostles' Creed. Is the Nicene Creed somehow a dishonest "reformulation" of the Church's teaching? According to your principles, it is.

In the same way, later statements on "Extra ecclesiam..." have been more explicit than earlier statements--precisely because the earlier statements have been misunderstood and misused. The point on which the Church has been more explicit over time is that it is those who KNOW that salvation comes through the Church, and REFUSE to join, who cannot be saved.

594 posted on 07/18/2007 1:45:03 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 591 | View Replies ]


To: Arthur McGowan
And you have contradicted yourself, as Feeneyites always do on this point: You say: 1) Feeney wasn't excommunicated for heresy. 2) He was reinstated without having to recant anything.

You are making no sense at all. There is no contradiction in statements 1 & 2. Your claim that I am a Feeneyite is an idiotic statement however. I am not now and never have been a Feeneyite.

My question: If he wasn't excommunicated for heresy, then why would he be required to recant anything when the excommunication was lifted?

What????? He wasn't required to recant anything.

I suggest you sober up and try again tomorrow.

595 posted on 07/18/2007 4:40:17 PM PDT by OLD REGGIE (I am most likely a Biblical Unitarian? Let me be perfectly clear. I know nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 594 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson