1ke,
I appreciate the the post, and have a question. Lutherans and Catholics agree that Baptism is necessary for salvation. I have heard Catholics here say that, based on John 6, the Eucharist is also necessary for salvation. Is that your take on Church teaching?
Jon
Short answer: All the Sacraments are necessary. They are the means by which we receive sanctifying grace. In the same way, the Church is necessary, because we receive the Sacraments through her.
So, in answering your question I think it depends on what, precisely, is meant by “necessary.”
Baptism is necessary, because it is the means by which we receive regeneration and incorporation into the Body of Christ. It is the ordinary means by which we are incorporated into God’s family and receive sanctifying grace.
However, even while acknowledging that Baptism is *necessary *in order to be admitted to the Beatific Vision, the Church does not preclude God working in an *extraordinary *way that He has not revealed to us. While Just, God is also Mercy. So, certainly the Church takes up the discussion of how this works in practice regarding those who had no opportunity to hear the gospel, or those in invincible ignorance, or those who die below the age of reason who have no personal sins but whose parents did not initiate baptism for them.
*1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. 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. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments. *
As the means by which we receive grace, I would say all seven sacraments are “necessary” and in the same way the Church is “necessary.” They are the means established by Christ for us to receive grace and be united to him. Baptism has a different character, because without Baptism we can receive no other Sacrament. The Holy Spirit indwells when we are baptized. Before baptism, our souls have a different character.
I don’t believe the Sacraments are “necessary” in the sense that members of non-Catholic ecclesial communities who lack valid sacraments somehow are damned because they do not participate in the Eucharist or the other Sacraments.
I don’t believe there is anything in Church teaching that would back up such an assertion. Certainly I believe that those who lack the Sacraments lack the *fullest means of sanctification *offered by Christ through his Church.