Leaving Indian Orthodox Church for Pentecostalism

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Varghesec

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Hello, I was raised in an Indian Pentecostal family here in the USA. However, I’ve decided to become Catholic for a multitude of reasons. Back in the 1970’s, my grandparents left the Indian Orthodox Church to become Pentecostal, and it is to my understanding that Catholic and Orthodox Christians are nearly identical in teaching, except in regards to the Pope. Thus, given the RCC’s teaching that if you leave the Church, you will go to hell, would the same thing qualify for my grandparents who left a faith that was ALMOST identical to the Catholic Church for a faith that is much more heretical?
 
May I ask if it was Syro-Malabar Catholic or Syro-Malankara Catholic? Because I think those tend to be the terms used, or at least I’ve seen Orthodox Catholic used mainly for eastern European catholic churches.
 
Varghesec said:
given the RCC’s teaching that if you leave the Church, you will go to hell…
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That is not precisely the Church’s teaching. It is very grave matter to leave the Catholic Church if one is aware that the Catholic Church is Christ’s Church on earth. It is not necessary or proper for you to judge your grandparents. You can talk with your Catholic pastor about exposing your family to Catholicism in a positive way.
 
No, they were never a part of any eastern rite. They were Malankara Orthodox.
 
But the thing is, they are not invincibly ignorant. They believe that many of the things they used to believe are demonic. They said, that they twist the words of scripture to support ideas that are actually biblical, such as infant baptism, the real presence, confession, etc. They were taught all of these things as children, and both had many priests in their family. Be that as it may, they chose to convert to Pentecostalism, and actually get baptized again, because they believed that their original baptisms were invalid.
 
You are right, but what do you mean when you say, “we are not allowed to despair over their salvation”?
 
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