Dear Mrs Brown

Recently you concurred with a writer that I was engaging in a personal attack against you.

Nothing could be farther from the truth! You are a great lady!

I was merely pointing out to a questioner that the Church has always and everywhere taught that one has to be baptised to be saved, either by water, desire or blood, I was accused of Feenyism. This is patently false.

People should do research before they make such libelous statements.

The followers of Fr Feeney believe in an interpretation of EENS where only water is efficacious for baptism.

This is not what the Church teaches.

I never said that.

Christians have always interpreted the Bible literally when it declares, "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21; cf. Acts 2:38, 22:16, Rom. 6:3–4, Col. 2:11–12). Thus the early Church Fathers wrote in the Nicene Creed (A.D. 381), "We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins." And the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Lord himself affirms that baptism is necessary for salvation [John 3:5]. . . . Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament [Mark 16:16]" (CCC 1257).

This obviously does not preclude Baptism of Desire or of Blood.

Thank you and God bless.

Dan

I do not recall ever suggesting that someone was engaged in a personal attack on me, but that is really beside the point. I have taken down the offending post as it did not occur to me what "Feenyism" actually was until you explain it. Thank you for that.

Your perspective on the question of Baptism is a sound one and I thank you for sharing it with all of us.

Judie Brown

Judie Brown

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