the best thing you can do first for him is pray, and then the next best thing you can do is try to be a good example of a catholic, meaning, keep the commandments, be obedient to the church, practice your virtues, and don’t be silent about important matters,
if you earnestly pray for his conversion, and do your part(what i mentioned above) then God will take care of the rest.
and sure non-catholics who are baptized can get to heaven, but that’s not for us to say and we must not act according to that, but instead we must err on the side of caution and try everything within reason and charity to get them to heaven, which means convert them to the Catholic faith…because remember the Catholic Church has a doctrine of “no salvation outside the church” and while that’s referring more to the Mystical Body of Christ, it’s still a narrow road that even most Catholics don’t take
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” Matthew 7:13
many consider this view of the church “insensitive”, but it is nothing but merciful, because after all, what do we have to gain by not believing it? human respect? it’s not worth even one immortal soul…God gave us that passage in the bible for good reason, it’s a warning, that getting to heaven is not a walk in the park, it takes perseverance, obedience, prayer, etc, and whether someone has a chance at getting to heaven or not, that’s no more ours to say than if they go to hell, we must act as if their soul is in danger, because what else would you do with something you valued as a precious and priceless object? wouldn’t you put it somewhere safe? take care of it and guard it? and isn’t a human soul more priceless than any material thing? why do we just assume they will be saved? God is merciful yes, but we can’t take that for granite, Gods mercy is no excuse for us to be lazy in saving souls.
remember that the Fatima children saw hell, and they saw souls falling in like snowflakes…and that was back before Our Lady said we could still turn the tide, but what now? things have gone from bad to worse, and to think that more souls are being saved is just foolish, sin is more accepted now than it has ever been before, God has tried to warn us time and time again, and why would He warn us if we weren’t really in danger? we must err on the side of caution…
i also want to make one correction, we do not love others like we love God, we love God above all else with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we love others as ourselves for the love of God, but we love God more and differently, because we give our will and abandon ourselves to Him, whereas we do not do that with others,
my advice is, learn the true teachings of the church, i would recommend the writings of the saints, especially the doctors of the church, and here are a few sites with very good and trustworthy information -
audiosancto.org/
keepthefaith.org/
fultonsheen.com/Fulton-Sheen-MP3.cfm
youtube.com/user/CatholicClips#g/p
gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewforum.php?f=211197
archive.org/details/meditationsday00bacouoft
tanbooks.com
fraternitypublications.com
archive.org/search.php?query=Teacher%27s%20handbook%20to%20the%20catechism
but to answer your first question -
how essential would you say the sacraments are to salvation of a person’s soul? I know that as a practicing Catholic, to not participate in the sacraments is a big no-no, but I’m thinking more along the lines of those who are NOT Catholic.
well first, the sacrament of baptism is absolutely necessary, as we read -
“Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5
and then of course we know of the passages which say, that those who do not eat of His flesh and drink of His blood do not have life in them, but those who do shall have life everlasting.
and then the sacrament of penance is necessary for those sins which we commit after baptism, because
“Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death?” Romans 6:3 and yet
“he died once” Romans 6:10 only once, so we are baptized only once, and must thereafter be absolved by another means, which is the sacrament of penance, and which is obtained by the sufferings of Christ, since He died only once, but suffered countless tortures, of mind, and body, and heart and soul, and suffered the guilt of all sin, and suffered physical and mental pains in attribute to each of those sins, so that all sins may be forgiven.
those are the sacraments available to all(Catholics), and which without it would be very hard to get to heaven, after all, is it not hard even for us Catholics who do partake of them? and then how much harder for those who do not have these fountains of grace?
if you want to explain the importance and great wonders of the sacraments(and of God and the Catholic religion and everything else) than i would just say read up on it, check out those sites i gave you, tanbooks has many writings of the saints which explain these things very well, although if you want, you can go to that youtube channel with Fulton J. Sheen, and watch him with your boyfriend, because both Catholics and non-Catholics seem to really love Bishop Sheen, and many have converted by listening to him.
anyways, i think i’ve made this long enough, but if you have any other questions i’d be happy to help.
ok, hope this helps, take care.
