Right there with you.
I just hope that others reading certain posts in this thread are not led to believe that those of non-Catholic religions/denominations are assured of salvation by virtue of their religion…that it doesn’t matter what religion one follows… that they all lead to the same place.
I saw another person talk about this phenomenon describe it as the death of a doctrine by “a thousand qualifications” so that over time, what ends up happening is that people believe that the exceptions are the rule, rather than the reverse. Of course Vatican I clearly declared that any change in the sense or understanding of a doctrine over time, or attempt to interpret it differently than in the past, is not to be done:
First Vatican Council, Session Three, Chapter 4, On Faith and Reason
- For the doctrine of the faith which God has revealed is put forward not as some philosophical discovery capable of being perfected by human intelligence, but as a divine deposit committed to the spouse of Christ to be faithfully protected and infallibly promulgated.
- Hence, too, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by Holy mother Church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.
May understanding, knowledge and wisdom increase as ages and centuries roll along, and greatly and vigorously flourish, in each and all, in the individual and the whole Church: but this only in its own proper kind, that is to say, in the same doctrine, the same sense, and the same understanding.
First Vatican Council, Session Three, Canons
- If anyone says that it is possible that at some time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmas propounded by the Church which is different from that which the Church has understood and understands: let him be anathema.
The best route to Heaven is the Catholic Church (and yes that does not mean that all Catholics go to Heaven). Any other route is banking on God’s mercy and God’s mercy alone.
Indeed. And while God is certainly merciful, He is also just. I also seem to remember something about not putting God to the test… Oh well, I’m sure that wasn’t really important.
I would love to believe that my Jewish mother has just a good a shot at Heaven as some Catholic strangers on this website, but I know that is just not the truth. I used to push and bank on some of the same things other posters have been pushing as I was given the same impression that they have about Church teaching, but in the end I have to pray that God will have mercy on her soul.
I feel the same way. My family is mostly non-practicing and all are non-Catholic. I pray for them regularly and it is very hard thinking that they might not be saved, which is when I pray it is for their conversion and and for God’s mercy.
St. Francis de Sales worked awfully hard at reevangelizing Protestants, as did many other great saints, for there to be no difference. If one could be saved by being a good Calvinist, he might as well have left them alone. Indeed, one wonders why the Church ever worked so hard to stomp out heresies or convert anyone. If all that matters is that people are sincere in seeking God, then why bother changing their understanding of doctrine or evangelizing at all?
We, as Catholics (lay, religious, the hierarchy, etc), have an obligation to evangelize the Truth. If we do not make it** clear **that the Catholic Church is the surest route to Heaven, then we are not meeting that obligation.
And I realize that I have to work at that myself.
As do we all.
