Fr. Leonard Feeney died on this day, in 1978.  This is an excerpt of his from The Point, of Jan. 1953 -

There are three kinds of Communists: economic Communists, cultural Communists, and religious Communists. The least dangerous of these three is the economic Communist, the man who has no money. Then comes the cultural Communist, the man who has no values.

And finally, the most dangerous of all, is the religious Communist, the man who has no Faith and who wishes to share that lack of Faith with everybody.
It is this last form of Communism which has given rise to the movement known as Interfaith, which consists of a common-denominator belief that leaves a Jєω delighted, a Protestant contented, and a Catholic without an Apostles’ Creed.

We priests were not put in Sacrament to take care of the temporal needs of our flocks. Our assignment is to the spiritual welfare of our people. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: “Christ allowed one of His Apostles to take charge of all the money — the traitorous Apostle — because He wanted to teach prelates readily to entrust the managing of temporal affairs to anyone, but to keep the managing of spiritual things to themselves; though many do the contrary.”

The hungry whom we must feed, and the naked whom we must clothe, are those who hunger for the Bread of Life and thirst for communion with the Blood of Christ. The Blessed Eucharist is a priest’s great gift to man: that Divine Food and Drink which makes him con-corporeal with Jesus and induces the Blessed Virgin Mary to take him as her child. Saint Paul tells us that we could give all our goods to the poor and still not have charity. (I Cor. 13:3) Unless a priest makes the Blessed Eucharist his first and foremost charity, how can he say, or ask anyone else to say, what Saint Paul once shouted: “And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal. 2:20)

Priests should be poor men. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, insisted that all his sons be poor. A poor priest is free to talk all the time about man’s eternal salvation.

Thank you for the reminder!

Were it not for Fr. Feeney, I can say with certitude that I would never have taken the Faith as seriously as I do.  More than likely I would have lost what little I had long ago, were it not for him.

My father would read to us each evening around the dinner table, and in the early 90's he read a book entitled "They Fought the Good Fight".  That was my first exposure to Fr. Feeney.  Shortly thereafter, I went to a "conservative" boy's camp run by some Franciscans where the priest gave conferences to us older boys.  One of his conferences touched on Fr. Feeney, and the Franciscan priest's explanation was that "it's possible for non-Catholics to be saved, but very unlikely".  Essentially, Fr. Feeney "over-reacted."  Not knowing any better, I figured the priest knew what he was talking about and decided to go with his view until I could research it further.

Apologetics was a focus at the summer camp and, at the end of it, the brothers brought in a Lutheran minister so we could test our new-found skills.  During the discussion with this fellow, I remember making some points (I've forgotten specifically what they were), causing the minister to reply: "So you're saying that if I don't become a Catholic, I'm going to hell?"

I was taken aback by his candor.  Being confused by what the priest had explained just a few nights before, I remember stammering something like "Well... not necessarily...".  Then I sat down.

It dawned on me.  IF there was salvation outside the Church, THEN none of this made sense.  Truth doesn't matter.  The true Church doesn't matter.  The sacraments don't matter.  Why bother debating with this guy?  

Fr. Feeney WAS right.

That was truly a moment of grace.  Never before did the beauty and reality of the truths of the faith shine like they did at that moment.  

IF there was salvation outside the Church, THEN none of this made sense.

That was the very FIRST thing that I was convinced of, when God gave me the grace of reverting to the Catholic Faith of my childhood.

My father would read to us each evening around the dinner table, and in the early 90's he read a book entitled "They Fought the Good Fight". 

God bless your father! what a great thing to do.