Those outside the Church, Maria, lack what’s called the formal motive of belief. In effect they don’t have the faith at all but instead an opinion based upon private reason. That’s why Protestantism is so insidious. Material heretics are Catholics who believe in Catholicism, i.e. accept the teaching authority of the Church but are in error regarding the heretical nature of some proposition to which they hold. Materially heretical Catholics are not pertinacious and would therefore reject the heretical proposition once their ignorance had been lifted. Protestants on the other hand reject in principle the teaching authority so they are by definition pertinacious. It’s not about good will and invincible ignorance. It’s about whether one has the faith at all, without which one cannot be saved.
Formal heretics positively destroy the formal motive of belief, whereas Protestants negatively lack it, so in effect it’s the same thing, a formal lack of faith.
Laszlo,
That understanding of Protestants who act in good faith goes against all the pre-Vatican II catechisms
I was taught from. Examples:
“A
heretic is a baptized person, still claiming to be a Christian, who knowingly and willfully denies or doubts a revealed truth taught by the Church. While all Protestants are heretics, still one who is born in Protestantism and does not know that the Catholic Church is the only true Church is, on account of his invincible ignorance, a heretic without knowing it. Such a one is called
a material heretic, and God will not hold him responsible for his error as long as he knows no better.” (
Religion: Doctrine and Practice by Francis B. Cassilly, S.J., 1942)
“Suppose, however, that there is a non-Catholic who firmly believes that the church to which he belongs is the true Church, and who has never–even in the past–had the slightest doubt of that fact–what will become of him? If he was validly baptized and never committed a mortal sin, he will be saved; because, believing himself a member of the true Church, he was doing all he could to serve God according to his knowledge and the dictates of his conscience. …] If, then, we found a Protestant who never committed a mortal sin after Baptism, and who never had the slightest doubt about the truth of his religion, that person would be saved; because, being baptized, he is a member of the Church, and being free from mortal sin he is a friend of God and could not in justice be condemned to Hell. Such a person would attend Mass and receive the Sacraments if he knew the Catholic Church to be the only true Church. …] Indeed, all persons who are baptized are children of the Church; but those among them who deny its teaching, reject its Sacraments, and refuse to submit to its lawful pastors, are rebellious children known as heretics.” (
An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism by Rev. Thomas L. Kinkead, 1891-1921)
Finally, the truths that must be believed explicitly in order to be saved are believed explicitly by Protestants; i.e., God’s existence, an eternal reward, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the immortality of the soul, the necessity of grace. Some theologians reduce these to the first two; yet others reduce them to the first four.
Maria
I suggest you find out before arguing further on the point, otherwise we’ll be talking at total cross-purposes.
)upon it. Every time we go to Confession. We’re lost without it.
