No Salvation Outside the Church

[Sirach2]

For Disciple,
This is the vital distinction in the document you mentioned, clearly emphacizing the Church’s present teaching. Some will fault this, and cling to their erroneous interpretation of older documents.

From Unitatis Redintegration:

1. Even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts,(19) which the Apostle strongly condemned.(20) But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame.** The children who are born into these Communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers,** with respect and affection.

For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church - whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church - do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body,(21) and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.

 

[Disciple_I_Hope]

Thank you, Sirach2–one of my favorite chapters, BTW. I didn’t mention “communion” in my post because I thought I was waxing too verbose. “Communion”, in every sense of the word, is, in my estimation, a wonderful way to communicate this concept.

In support of this, I had just read St. Cyprian’s letter when he used this phrase. He was talking about the baptism of heretics–even those who were killed for their beliefs. So, “beyond the Church” could possibly seen as “not in communion with.”

I am a recent convert to the documents of Vatican II. I was seriously misled by “the spirit” of the Council. That “spirit” seems to be someone else’s, possibly uninformed, interpretation of what the Council actually said. I continue to be surprised, as a result, in how the Council didn’t stray from traditional Catholicism. It rather, as Father Ratzinger said, really did bring the Church into the modern world, which has changed significantly since the Council. But now the Church is alive and not static as it was when I was younger.

Grace, peace and love

 

[guanophore]

St. Paul writes that the believer can sanctify the unbeliever. The Graces we receive from God can also go to other people. When you go to Mass you are entering the greatest force and power the world has ever known. It is the power of love incarnate. When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion (in a state of Grace) we are enabling God to dispense His Holy Spirit not only in our own lives but throughout the world as well. Not only these benefits are for the living but for the departed as well including all those souls still in Purgatory. This great act of love contained in Holy Communion has all the power to transform not only those who receive Him but also those who live in the world and are opened to His Graces. The Church then becomes salvation not only for her own but to those as St. Paul says are still unbelievers. God does this because you decided to receive Him in Holy Communion. You are helping God to dispence His Graces. Without your participation these Graces will not be available. So it is important to come to receive Him often so He can do His work on many others who are not in Church or even part of the Church.

Thanks for this wonderful post!

 

[Ignatius]

I’ve been trying to get a better understanding of this teaching.

This subject has been thoroughly discussed numerous times. You say you’ve been trying to understand it. Have tried hard enough to do search on the term and read the 250 or so threads that have been done on this subject?

Why don’t you start there?

 

[ChristIsTheWay]

This subject has been thoroughly discussed numerous times. You say you’ve been trying to understand it. Have tried hard enough to do search on the term and read the 250 or so threads that have been done on this subject?

Why don’t you start there?

You don’t have to be harsh. It is easier for me to start a new thread than to sort through “the 250 or so threads that have been done on this subject.” I thought Catholic Answers was the place to ask questions, not merely use a search engine.

 

[Ignatius]

You don’t have to be harsh. It is easier for me to start a new thread than to sort through “the 250 or so threads that have been done on this subject.” I thought Catholic Answers was the place to ask questions, not merely use a search engine.

I thought that was good, sound advice. I didn’t think it was at all harsh.

 

[ChristIsTheWay]

I thought that was good, sound advice. I didn’t think it was at all harsh.

That’s the trouble with the Internet, miscommunications can happen. I apologize if I misunderstood your intent.

 

[Catholic_Jay]

Here’s some of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which Pope John Paul II called “a sure norm for teaching the faith” about this:

1271 Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church: “For men who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by faith in Baptism, [they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.”(UR 3.) “Baptism therefore constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn.”(UR 22 § 2.)
…
VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM
1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.(Cf. Jn 3:5.) He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.(Cf. Mt 28:19-20; cf. Council of Trent (1547) DS 1618; LG 14; AG 5.) Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.(Cf. Mk 16:16.) The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.”(GS 22 § 5; cf. LG 16; AG 7.) Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

Also Vatican II in the CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH: LUMEN GENTIUM which was SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY POPE POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964 said:

“14. This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism(124) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”