Is the Catholic Church the only way to be saved?

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It is RC dogma that no one is saved outside the Church.

You are saying that God does save those outside of the Church.

What Church are you talking about?
As my brothers have pointed out here I should have clarified that any properly baptized person is technically in the Church. I speaking more generally and probably should have made that distinction.
 
As my brothers have pointed out here I should have clarified that any properly baptized person is technically in the Church. I speaking more generally and probably should have made that distinction.
Yes.

Saying someone can be saved outside the Church cannot be accurate.

I don’t know what distinction you could have made to make that comment correct as it is always incorrect.
 
This did not answer the question I asked of rtconstant, but thanks anyway.
Why not?
Your question was:
What Church are you talking about?
He answered that it is the “Catholic Church” and provided an explanation of what “outside the church” means.
 
It is RC dogma that no one is saved outside the Church.

You are saying that God does save those outside of the Church.

What Church are you talking about?
Don’t you just love it when non-Catholics try to tell Catholics what we believe? :rolleyes:
 
This did not answer the question I asked of rtconstant, but thanks anyway.
Actualy, my post gave some background that assisted in the answering of the question. You asked if the Catholic Church teaches that nobody can be saved outside of the Church, and I answered with the paragraphs from the Catechism that explain what that means in its proper context. So I did answer the question with an official Catholic source. Please accept my apologies if that’s not good enough for you.
 
Atemi said:
It is RC dogma that no one is saved outside the Church.

The Catholic Church is Universal. What is outside ‘universal.’? Anything? No nothing.

OK then. As someone has posted before, anyone who is non-Catholic can be saved because of the existence of the Catholic Church on Earth.

Now if the Catholic Church should disappear, then all of that non-Catholic saving then comes into question. So that no one should have any doubt about this, the Holy Spirit preserves the Church from error in Magisterial teaching and specifies that the Gates of Hell shall not preside against Her.
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Atemi:
You are saying that God does save those outside of the Church.
We cannot say what God’s decision is viz the salvation of individual souls. However, we can say that those who are non-Catholic can be saved. It is possible for them to be saved. It is possible only because of the existence of the Catholic Church on Earth.
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Atemi:
What Church are you talking about?
The visible One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church.
 
Is it not true that a catholic cannot be assured of salvation even if they do everything the church tells them to do?
 
As an outsider, I’m reluctant to chime in on Catholic doctrine, but this passage from one of the current Pope’s books may be instructive on the issue of Catholic thought on this subject. (I understand that it’s not authoritative doctrine in this form, but I assume the Pope knows something about these issues!)

"In this state of things, one should no longer be concerned with the salvation of ‘the others,’ who for some time now have become ‘our brothers.’ Above all, the central question is to have an intuition of the Church’s position and mission in History under a positive new point-of-view. This new point-of-view should allow one to believe in the universal offer of the grace of salvation as well as the essential part that the Church plays in this. Therefore, in this sense the problem changed.

"What concerns us is no longer how ‘the others’ will be saved. Certainly we know, by our faith in divine mercy, that they can be saved. How this happens, we leave to God. The point that does concern us is principally this: Why, despite the wider possibility of salvation, is the Church still necessary? Why should faith and life still continue to come through her? In other words, the present day Christians no longer question if their non-believer brothers can reach salvation. Overall, they desire to know what is the meaning of their union with the universal embrace of Christ and their union with the Church (Joseph Ratzinger, “Necessita della missione della Chiesa nel mondo,” in La Fine della Chiesa come Societa Perfetta, Verona: Mondatori, 1968, pp 69-70).
 
The Catholic Church is the only way to be sure to be saved, and then its only by living to its precepts. There are other ways, but all involve baptism of sorts (baptism by water, or baptism by fire, where a person gives up his life for the love of a friend). No-one can ever presume to know the mind of God concerning individual states of Grace, except generalities that were revealed through the scriptures and official church teachings and traditions. So there is room for non-Catholics to be saved, but if they want to be sure they’re on the right track, I believe that Catholicism is the only way.
 
Is it not true that a catholic cannot be assured of salvation even if they do everything the church tells them to do?
The Church doesn’t teach assurance of salvation and so you cannot know whether you’ll be saved for sure until you die UNLESS you were revealed this by God before death.
 
Actualy, my post gave some background that assisted in the answering of the question. You asked if the Catholic Church teaches that nobody can be saved outside of the Church
No I did not.

Which thread are you reading?

I actually cited what the RCC teaches. I did not ask what the RCC teaches.
So I did answer the question with an official Catholic source.
Actually you didn’t, but thank you anyway…again.

 
The Catholic Church is Universal. What is outside ‘universal.’? Anything? No nothing.

OK then. As someone has posted before, anyone who is non-Catholic can be saved because of the existence of the Catholic Church on Earth.

Now if the Catholic Church should disappear, then all of that non-Catholic saving then comes into question. So that no one should have any doubt about this, the Holy Spirit preserves the Church from error in Magisterial teaching and specifies that the Gates of Hell shall not preside against Her.
Thank you for agreeing with me and for your support.
We cannot say what God’s decision is viz the salvation of individual souls. However, we can say that those who are non-Catholic can be saved.
That was not the claim.

The claim was that someone OUTSIDE of the Body of Christ can be saved.
The visible One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church.
But not the invisible?
 
The claim was that someone OUTSIDE of the Body of Christ can be saved.
Which is dead wrong and is not what the Catholic Church teaches. The passages from the Catechism are quite clear, but since some people have to have things spelled out to them in simplest terms, let me quote here the Compendium Catechism.
  1. What is the meaning of the affirmation “Outside the Church there is no salvation”?
This means that all salvation comes from Christ, the Head, through the Church which is his body. Hence they cannot be saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and necessary for salvation, would refuse to enter her or remain in her. At the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation.
 
There is no invisible Church for the Church is one.
Really?

The Catholic Encyclopedia, with the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur of your church says:

“Christian baptism constitutes membership in the Visible Church; the state of grace, membership in the Invisible. It is obvious that one membership does not necessarily connote the other.”

newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm

I will have to assume the information on the very well established and respected Encyclopedia is superior to your own.

 
No I did not.

Which thread are you reading?

I actually cited what the RCC teaches. I did not ask what the RCC teaches.
Ah, see there is the problem. You should have been asking or at least have been listening as you were instructed in what we actually believe. If you had been doing either of those then we could have closed this thread.
Actually you didn’t, but thank you anyway…again.
Actually yes he did. You’ve been the recipient of rather well phrased explanations. Read them and then you won’t have to argue this anymore. 🙂
 
Really?

The Catholic Encyclopedia, with the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur of your church says:

“Christian baptism constitutes membership in the Visible Church; the state of grace, membership in the Invisible. It is obvious that one membership does not necessarily connote the other.”

newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm

I will have to assume the information on the very well established and respected Encyclopedia is superior to your own.

The “Invisible” is the Church in Heaven or the Church Victorious.
 
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