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This article in the Boston Herald, like one in the Wall Street Journal last week, identifies C. J. Doyle as a “Catholic activist.” I have no quibble with such a designation but that is because I am a “big tent” kind of guy. Mr. Doyle has made his reputation questioning the orthodoxy of his own bishop, so he evidently does not share my “big tent” sensibility. And, if you are going to shrink the tent, I imagine that one of the places to start is by expelling those who consistently and falsely attack their bishop.
The situation reminds me of an earlier one from the 1940s and 50s, also in Boston. Father Leonard Feeney, S.J. was so strident in his belief that extra ecclesia nullus salus, that he was excommunicated. So, for distorting the true teaching of the Church in order to magnify his belief that there was no salvation outside the Church, Feeney found himself outside the Church.
