How can the Church accept salvation for Protestants in the face of past anathemas?

[Everyman]

My wife and I and two of our friends are currently inquirers into the Catholic Church. We were all raised as Christians in various non-Catholic or even anti-Catholic traditions and are now attending RCIA.

One reservation I have that I see as the key to determining if I will become Catholic or not is the issue of Sacred Tradition because once I accept that, I can by default accept what that tradition teaches. However, the one issue that prevents me from accepting it already is that of appearant contradictions throughout the Church’s history.

For instance, if the Church claimed that salvation does not come outside of the Church, how does it then accept non-Catholic Christians as seperated brethren that are truly saved? When Luther faced this question he asked, “What about the Eastern Fathers?”

And I ask, “What about the Protestants who were considered anathema by the church? Did the Church suddenly decide that that particular point was innacurate, and now we are merely seperated brethren?”

These are issues that go beyond mere changes in practice in the little “t” tradition. This is definitely big “T” stuff, what with the handling of salvation, heresy, anathema, and such.

I want to be Catholic, but these questions need answered.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear E,

The Church has not changed its teaching that it is the only means of salvation for the world. But it does acknowledge the goodness of people who through no fault of their own do not have the fullness of the faith. It calls this invincible or innocent ignorance. This is not a new idea that the Church has just thought up to be politically correct. So even without their knowing it, they can attain salvation, but it is still through the Catholic Church.

This tract shows what the early Church Fathers said on the subject:

catholic.com/library/Salvation_Outside_the_Church.asp

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.