Father Feeney was of the theological opinion that the sacrament of Baptism is provided by God’s providence for all the elect since promulgation of the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood. We Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary do not conflate this theological opinion of our founder with Church dogma. We are aware of the common opinion of Catholic theologians on the subject of “baptism of desire,” summarized well by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae (III, Q. 68, A. 2), and do not rule this out as a theological possibility.

We reject, however, the substantial broadening of the concept of baptism of desire to include those who (A) do not have divine and Catholic faith (which is necessary for salvation—and even for baptism of desire to justify a person in the first place), or who (B) lack the will to be subject to the divine hierarchy established by Christ (the pope and bishops in communion with him).

None of us—and I speak for the community at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire, over which I preside as Prior—are going to say that a justified catechumen goes to hell because he did not get the sacrament. That would be an abomination, a monstrosity. We also consider it a waste of time to argue about what God would or would not do in difficult circuмstances since no circuмstance is difficult for Omnipotence.

The sacrament of Baptism has been declared to be necessary by the authority of the Councils of Vienne and Trent. The Council of Vienne: “Besides, one baptism which regenerates all who are baptized in Christ must be faithfully confessed by all just as ‘one God and one faith’ [Eph. 4:5], which celebrated in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we believe to be commonly the perfect remedy for salvation for adults as for children.”¹ The Council of Trent: “If anyone says that baptism is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation: let him be anathema.”²

Father Feeney held, as a matter of theological opinion, that those whose names are written in the Book of Life will die with the sacrament. That is to say, all of the elect who die in the Christian dispensation (since Pentecost) will depart this life having first received the sacrament of Baptism. In the words of Saint Augustine: “Perish the thought that a person predestined to eternal life could be allowed to end this life without the sacrament of the mediator.”³