This is possible- however he has some impressive credentials. He wrote the Catholic Cathechism and was a consultant to the Vatican among many other things. I called 2 Churches and emailed a Franciscan and they said I was Catholic. Maybe the Church doesn’t agree with Fr. Hardon on this or perhaps we are misinterpretting something h is saying?
Do we have any official documentation of the Church that says a Catholic is _________?
He did not write the Catholic Catechism - it wasn’t the product of one person, rather of a group, an Interdicasterial Commission, which was appointed by John Paul II. And all the Bishops of the world had (name removed by moderator)ut into it before its final release.
As for official documents about the indelible nature of baptism and its effects on initiating you into the Catholic church I submit for your consideration the following:
Firstly from the code of Canon law - which are the laws governing the Church and its members:
“Canon 849 … Through baptism men and women are freed from sin, are reborn as children of God, and, configured to Christ by an indelible character,
are incorporated into the Church.”
And from the Catechism which your friend claims to have authored:
“1269 Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us.76 From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church, and to “obey and submit” to the Church’s leaders,77 holding them in respect and affection.78 Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.79”
So clearly one of the effects of baptism is to make you a member of the Church with various obligations pertaining. Church with a capital C, which in a Catholic context means nothing other than the Catholic Church. Combine that with the following, also from the Catechism:
" An indelible spiritual mark . . .
1272 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ.
No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.83 Given once for all,
Baptism cannot be repeated."
So once you have been initiated into the Catholic Church by baptism, NO sin, not even apostasy, heresy or schism, can remove that mark that makes you Catholic. All that DOES happen is that you become a Catholic who is ALSO guilty of the sins of apostasy, heresy or schism and is separated from the Church.
A branch of a tree which dies or is cut off from the trunk is still a branch of that tree and no other, simply a dead and cut-off branch.
Hence baptism being unrepeatable - surely if apostasy and so on made you no longer Catholic you’d need rebaptism, reinitiation, if you decided to return to the Church. But you don’t.
Suddenly I realize why CAF has a 1,000 post limit for each thread! Perhaps I’ll post over there if I can wade through enough of the posts to make sense of where the conversation is at.