04-16-2009, 09:13 PM
You've hit the nail on the head. After the chaos succeeding Vatican II broke out, most Catholics were schocked and sacandalized. Fr. Feeney and his Order were not. They had been battling it for years and suffered ostracization, censureship, firing from their jobs and physical persecution. Vatican II was not the cause, but the result.
Fr. Feeney was criticising false ecumenism when it was just "inter-faith." He described it as an event where a rabbi, who denies Christ, and a minister who doubts His Divinity meet with a priest who pretends to forget about it for an afternoon. Many of Fr.'s students were reporting complete and outspoken denial of EENS by professors in the Jesuit Universities while Jesuit priest students sat and said nothing. Again there was no discussion of BOD, just EENS. Because of this Fr. who was still very much a celebrity, refused to allow fellow Jesuits help out at St. Benedict Center which started the first bit of friction between Fr. and his Order. The Bishop had many Jewish and Protestant benefactors and silenced Fr. when they began complaining about him teaching EENS. Many of Fr.'s strudents were converts and the children of wealthy American families, like the Kennedys and the Morgans(yes as in J.P. Morgan-his nephew Temple converted and was a student of Fr. Feeney and died just this year as a monk). Bobby Kennedy even confronted Fr. Feeney on this matter and was so disrespectful, Fr. threw him out.
If you have time, read After the Boston Heresy Case by Gary Potter. It is not a discussion on doctrine or theology at all. It is a history of Fr. Feeney and his Order and is a fascinating read. I couldn't put it down. It also traced the beginnigs of heresy in this country from its very conception and how this was relevant in 1940s America. Seriously, give the book a try. It is one of the most amazing accounts of the problems of American Catholicism.
Fr. Feeney was criticising false ecumenism when it was just "inter-faith." He described it as an event where a rabbi, who denies Christ, and a minister who doubts His Divinity meet with a priest who pretends to forget about it for an afternoon. Many of Fr.'s students were reporting complete and outspoken denial of EENS by professors in the Jesuit Universities while Jesuit priest students sat and said nothing. Again there was no discussion of BOD, just EENS. Because of this Fr. who was still very much a celebrity, refused to allow fellow Jesuits help out at St. Benedict Center which started the first bit of friction between Fr. and his Order. The Bishop had many Jewish and Protestant benefactors and silenced Fr. when they began complaining about him teaching EENS. Many of Fr.'s strudents were converts and the children of wealthy American families, like the Kennedys and the Morgans(yes as in J.P. Morgan-his nephew Temple converted and was a student of Fr. Feeney and died just this year as a monk). Bobby Kennedy even confronted Fr. Feeney on this matter and was so disrespectful, Fr. threw him out.
If you have time, read After the Boston Heresy Case by Gary Potter. It is not a discussion on doctrine or theology at all. It is a history of Fr. Feeney and his Order and is a fascinating read. I couldn't put it down. It also traced the beginnigs of heresy in this country from its very conception and how this was relevant in 1940s America. Seriously, give the book a try. It is one of the most amazing accounts of the problems of American Catholicism.