Sermon: No Salvation outside the Catholic Church

[SeanTom]

(Continued from previous page)

1. Then there are those who do evil acts and live a life of sin. Although they knew of God, they never attended church nor did they want anything to do with God‘s goodness. They, in effect, turn their backs on God and renounce His existence. These people surely are destined for Hell. With one exception:

If these evil people, before they die, have a change in heart and confess their sins to God in a way that shows sincerity, shows remorse and then repents for having sinned, then in that case I believe God, after determining the truthfulness and validity of their confessions, will forgive them and welcome them into His Kingdom. But here again, they must rely on the compassion and mercy of our Lord.

The above four examples speak for themselves and are ways for non-practicing Christians to enter God’s Kingdom. However, the people in these examples are subject to God’s compassion and mercy. BUT none of these four ways are guarantees that they will enter Heaven, they all depend on God’s mercy.

As for the Jewish people, I honestly don’t know how God will handle them, since they don’t believe that Jesus is the Savior for all people, and I can’t even render an opinion. All I know is that God is Just, God is compassionate, God is love and God will judge all people wisely and then either accept or reject them from His Heavenly Kingdom. God knows what is in their hearts and will judge them accordingly.

HOWEVER, there is a way we can GUARANTEE our admittance to God’s Heavenly Kingdom, and this certainly is the way we should all strive to
accomplish… In John 11:25: Jesus said…. ’I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” Jesus tells us that if we follow His teachings, we WILL see the Kingdom of God. That is His GUARANTEE to us.

The Catholic Catechism teaches: Article 847 “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.” The phrase “through no fault of their own” can mean many things. But we must remember that we are all encouraged to find out as much as we can as to how we can attain God’s Heavenly Kingdom. “Through no fault of their own” doesn’t mean that one did not seek the truth, but refers to those who perhaps, for some reason or another, were hidden from the truth by force or otherwise restrained from knowing the truth through reading Scripture or Scriptural teachings.

I leave you with the following questions: Do you want to GUARANTEE your acceptance into God’s Kingdom? Or do you want to take chances and hope that God’s compassion and love for His adopted children, under any and all circumstances, will be your “ticket” into Heaven? Think about it! In order to GUARANTEE your entrance into Heaven, you should know that the one true church is the Catholic church. Follow the teachings of Jesus as given to us by the Catholic Church, study God’s Word in Scripture, go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, receive the Rite of Reconciliation and Holy Communion as often as you can, and love your brothers and sisters in Christ.

But also know that those of any denomination, Baptists, Methodist, etc who believe that Jesus is our Christ and Savior, follow His teachings and keep ourselves clean from mortal sins, will be accepted into His heavenly kingdom.

As to Baptism, no one is baptized into the Catholic church per se, but are baptized into the Christian community headed by our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Those who are baptized in a church that believes in and accepts the teachings of Jesus, are truly Christians. This is why, when someone, who was already baptized by another faith, but desires to become a Catholic, finds it unnecessary to be Baptized again. The Catholic church accepts all Baptized persons into the faith who were baptized by other Christian denominations.

 

[Jacafamala]

Sorry, am new to this discussion…

Doesn’t the Bible make it clear what is required for salvation? I don’t recall any particular denomination of Christianity being mentioned.

The cannon of scripture, the bible was given to us by God through the Catholic Church. Our Lord gave the Church the authority to interpret scripture and to pass on Sacred Tradition. Christ came to establish one Church, not several denominations. In New Testament times there was only one Church.

 

[zodmek]

The cannon of scripture, the bible was given to us by God through the Catholic Church. Our Lord gave the Church the authority to interpret scripture and to pass on Sacred Tradition. Christ came to establish one Church, not several denominations. In New Testament times there was only one Church.

The Bible was put together by the unified Christian Church of the time. We know there is really one Church even today, but many groups that have strayed from that church.

Which strayed and which stayed? Seems it’s reasonable to say that the ones who stayed with the Bible stayed with the Chruch, since the Bible is the foundational set of of documents.

Of course, organizations like to preserve themselves and promote their own influence and power, so Organization X will always say that Organization X has a claim to authenticity superior to that of an organization from which X split.

But humans don’t determine the legitimacy of any Christian group or denomination; only the Living Christ does.

 

[zodmek]

archangel04;6131998:

Actually you contradict Catholic Dogma as per the Papal Bull “Cantate Domino:”

ONE HAS to become Catholic before Death, whether it’s by a priest, angel, or missionary or by Jesus Christ in some mystical manner; one has to be converted to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith before one dies.

Using the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to support the proposition that one has to be Roman Catholic to be saved is hardly convincing.

But even the Bull refers to “the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith,” which all true Christians are a part of (in the meaning of “catholic” as used in the creeds, i.e., universal), even though they aren’t members of the Roman sect.

 

[Lycorth]

Using the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to support the proposition that one has to be Roman Catholic to be saved is hardly convincing.

Protestants use the Bible to justify the Bible all the time. What’s good for the goose, as they say…

As Catholics, we defer to Church teaching to understand our faith. What ravenonthecross did is use Catholic teaching to explain something about Catholicism. Pretty cut and dry, really.

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But even the Bull refers to “the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith,” which all true Christians are a part of (in the meaning of “catholic” as used in the creeds, i.e., universal), even though they aren’t members of the Roman sect.

The “Roman sect”, as you put it, was the first Christian sect ever, and remained so until the East-West Schism. It was the only church God saw fit to establish or maintain until human beings decided to go their own way (as ever shall be the case, I suppose) and form their own sects and their own teachings. In fact, “Catholic” with a capital C was never used until sectarianism forced the matter (as a means of identification).

According to the Nicene Creed, the four marks of the true church are universality, unity, sanctity, and apostolicity - “One, holy, catholic, and apostolic”. Only the “Roman sect” bears all four marks.

 

[pnewton]

The Bible was put together by the unified Christian Church of the time. We know there is really one Church even today, but many groups that have strayed from that church.

You sure do not know your history very well. Jesus did not write the Bible. Those that did write what we now call the New Testament were not the only literate Christians at the time. By the time we have the Canon of Scripture, you will also find the doctrine of the Church is distinctly Catholic. No one at that time believe that the Bible alone was the basis for our Faith. Even the Bible itself does not make this claim.

I do not know what sect you are a member of, but I bet it’s considerable more recent than the Catholic Church.

 

[whatischarity]

Very well written. Let us hope that all men one day realize that they can live life to the fullest by being in the safe pastures of the one true church where they can listen to the voice of the Shepherd and enjoy the sweet yoke and light burden made possible through the sacraments and teachings of the church.

 

[thomas_jd]

Jesus told Peter that He established the one church and only church. Not, two , three,etc.
Everyone that attains Heaven is CATHOLIC. We are members of the only CHURCH.
The church is the same today as it was in Peters day. It never has changed or can it change. Go back to the basics. Think it through what being a catholic means. There are entirely too many postings and not enough old fashioned common sense on these sites.
There is no salvation outside the Catholic church.

 

[pnewton]

Jesus also said:

John 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

 

[Shin]

Jesus also said:

John 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

St Paul, speaking to the bishops of the Church, says, " Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God," Acts, xx. 28. . .

Our Saviour, speaking of His Church under the figure of a flock, of which He Himself is the good shepherd, says: " Other sheep I have which are not of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd," John, x. 1 6. He is here speaking of those who were not then joined in communion with His apostles and other disciples, and He calls them at that time “His sheep;” but to show there was no salvation for them in the state in which they then were, and unless they were united to the fold, He says, " them also I must bring;" which shows that, according to the disposition of the Divine decrees, it was absolutely necessary that all who belong to Jesus Christ, all whom He acknowledges for His sheep, should be brought to, and united in communion with, that one fold, which is His Church.

In consequence of this, we are assured that, when the apostles began to publish the Gospel, “the Lord daily added to their society such as should be saved;”

Bishop George Hay

 

[Tradycja]

You missed putting a link to this. Is it from the Sisters of Charity themselves?

The letter refers to this order of Sisters: sistersofstbenedictcenter.org/index.html approved in the Diocese of Worcester.
worcesterdiocese.org/vicar/ReligiousCommunities/tabid/478/Default.aspx

The following communities also hold Fr. Feeney’s position and are approved in the Diocese:
Saint Benedict Center Still River
saintbenedict.com/

Benedictine Abbey Still River
abbey.org/

In fact Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life held a retreat there:

priestsforlife.org/clippings/95,04-07catholicfreepressstillriverretreat.html

and the Bishop of Juarez Mexico sent a “thank you” to their school:
zenit.org/article-25799?l=english

 

[ravenonthecross]

Zodmek; Learn your history.

Christ established only one Church: the Holy Catholic Church with Blessed St. Peter as the early head of the self-same Church and as Jesus Christ’s Vicegerent. The Holy Catholic Church is and has remained the ONLY church that Christ established. All other Protestant and non-Catholic sects are just man-made sects.

As the Catholic Church is the Church of God, which is the Body of Christ and as there is no salvation outside of the Body of Christ; therefore there is then no salvation Outside of Christ’s One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Holy Catholic Church is governed by St. Peter’s successors and Christ’s vicegerent, the Pope of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy Catholic Church adheres to Holy Tradition and Sacred Scripture both of which come directly from Christ and his Blessed Apostles themselves.

Also, don’t give us that nonsense about “Sola Scriptura” or “where in the Bible is that?” Here we don’t cherry-pick quotes from the Holy Bible and attempt to justify our PRIVATE interpretation of Scripture, where we learned from a man-made Protestant heretical conventicle. We don’t obey the whims of the man-made sola Scriptura, doctrine or the false sola fide doctrine, but the Same Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith that Christ, his Blessed Apostles and the Bishops and Priest, and Deacons of the Holy Catholic Church have bequeathed unto us today.

 

[pnewton]

The letter refers to this order of Sisters: sistersofstbenedictcenter.org/index.html approved in the Diocese of Worcester.
worcesterdiocese.org/vicar/ReligiousCommunities/tabid/478/Default.aspx

Thank you. That makes a lot more sense.

 

[Jacafamala]

The Bible was put together by the unified Christian Church of the time. We know there is really one Church even today, but many groups that have strayed from that church.

Which strayed and which stayed? Seems it’s reasonable to say that the ones who stayed with the Bible stayed with the Chruch, since the Bible is the foundational set of of documents.

Of course, organizations like to preserve themselves and promote their own influence and power, so Organization X will always say that Organization X has a claim to authenticity superior to that of an organization from which X split.

But humans don’t determine the legitimacy of any Christian group or denomination; only the Living Christ does.

No, the bible was compiled around 200 years after Christ established His Holy Catholic Church. Before that, the early Church had oral Tradition to guide them. The oral Tradition was given by Christ to the Church to the apostles with Peter as the head and to their successors. The authority to discern the cannon of scripture, which books to include and which not to include was likewise given by Christ to these successors.

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

Lief Erikson,

I wanted to give you a quote to support what I said in posts #125 and #143 about how the intellect and will work. If you remember, I said that the intellect proposes the truth to the will, and then the will chooses to accept or reject it.

The *object *of the intellect is truth, as opposed to error, while the object of the will is good, as opposed to evil. Since the will is unable to determine truth from error (only good from bad), it is said to be a blind faculty that is dependent upon the intellect. When reading the following quote, keep in mind that the word “reason” can be used interchangeably with term intellect, since the intellect of man is, by nature, rational. The following quote is from the encyclical Libertas of Leo XIII.

Pope Leo XIII, Libertas: "5. Liberty, then, as We have said, belongs only to those who have the gift of reason or intelligence. Considered as to its nature, it [free will] is the faculty of choosing means fitted for the end proposed, for he is master of his actions who can choose one thing out of many. Now, since everything chosen as a means is viewed as good or useful, and since** good, as such, is the proper object of our desire, it follows that freedom of choice is a property of the will, or, rather, is identical with the will in so far as it has in its action the faculty of choice.**** But the will cannot proceed to act until it is enlightened by the knowledge possessed by the intellect**. In other words, the good wished by the will is necessarily good in so far as it is known by the intellect; and this the more, because in all voluntary acts choice is subsequent to [follows] a judgment upon the truth of the good presented, declaring to which good preference should be given. No sensible man can doubt that** judgment is an act of reason [intellect], not of the will.** …

1. Since, however, both these faculties are imperfect, it is possible, as is often seen, that the reason [intellect] should propose something [to the will] which is not really good, but which has the appearance of good [a heresy, for example], and that the will should choose accordingly. For, as the possibility of error, and actual error, are defects of the mind [intellect] and attest its imperfection, so the pursuit of what has a false appearance of good … implies defect in human liberty [defect in the free will]."

The intellect is the faculty of judging truth from error. The will is the faculty for choosing the good that the intellect proposes to it. The intellect determines that something is true and therefore good; and it presents it to the will to embrace.

I wanted to clarify one more thing as well since you have alluded to this. Not only does the will follow the intellect, in that it is dependent upon the intellect to judge the truth of the proposition, but * the will can also affect the judgment of the intellect*.

You touched on this when you used the example of the Catholic telling the Protestant at his mother’s funeral that there is no salvation outside the Church. Since the Protestant loves his mother, and does not want to think of her being in hell, the will would affect the judgment made by the intellect. The Protestant would not “want” to believe his mother was in hell, and this would affect his judgment. When the will affects the judgment of the intellect, it is called “bias”.

It is natural for us to be inclined to believe what we want (will) to believe. If the will does not want to believe something, the judgment of the intellect is likely to be affected. Since it is the function of the intellect to discern truth; and since a bias in the will can affect the judgment of the intellect, it follows that the will (which cannot of itself discern truth or error) can nevertheless hinder the intellect from making a correct judgment.

What I just described happens all the time. What can we learn from knowing how the intellect and will work together? We can learn that the manner in which the truth is presented to a person can incline their will in such a way that the person “wants” to believe what is being said. One of the tactics of the Mormons is to be extremely friendly to potential converts. They have a term for it that I can’t think of at the moment. They may not realize exactly what they are doing, but they know that it works. By being extremely friendly and caring toward the person, the potential convert’s will is inclined to “want” to believe what they are saying. This makes it that much easier for them to win the convert, since the will is already biased to accept what they say.

I got a little off track there, but I wanted to give you the quote from Leo XIII to confirm what I said about how the intellect and will work together.

In conclusion, my position remains that once the truth is made known to the person’s intellect (and the intellect apprehends what is being presented) the person is no longer ignorant of the truth. The person may not accept the truth at the time, either due to a bias resulting from past personal experience or for some other reason, but the person can no longer be consider invincibly ignorant of the truth.

 

[whatischarity]

Whether you are in the church or out of the church, if you think you are virtuous when in fact you are not the condition is the same. My primary point is that a hardline declaration of No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church is too much needless vinegar and not enough honey. I could see it being used as a last resort to keep Catholics in the Church, but it is obviously a terrible recruitment tool!

The parable of the pharisee and the publican comes to mind. The pharisee thought he was vastly superior to the publican because of his position and his actions. Through humilty and recognition of his need for God, the publican finds grace. There are many opportuities for Catholics to learn lessons to balance the letter and the spirit by observing the pharisees in the gospels.

 

[Lycorth]

No, the bible was compiled around 200 years after Christ established His Holy Catholic Church. Before that, the early Church had oral Tradition to guide them. The oral Tradition was given by Christ to the Church to the apostles with Peter as the head and to their successors. The authority to discern the cannon of scripture, which books to include and which not to include was likewise given by Christ to these successors.

Actually, it was in 382, at the Council of Trent - almost four hundred years after Christ.

But, you are correct - all teaching authority was given to a specific group, the successors of Christ and of Peter. To argue otherwise is to argue that for four hundred years the early Christians had no reliable authority or guidance because there were no mass-produced Bibles to go around. Even the original manuscripts could only be read by a few people who lived near enough to them; early Christians traveled very far and wide, so without Bibles to double-check, either they taught the Faith in error or, if they taught in union with the growing Church which had divine protection against teaching error, they brought the authentic Faith to the pagans via that divine protection.

As the Bible did not exist as a complete and definitive book until 382, and was not widely available until the invention of the printing press, clearly God didn’t mean to saddle the Church with an unreasonable burden as Sola Scriptura.

 

[Jacafamala]

Jesus told Peter that He established the one church and only church. Not, two , three,etc.
Everyone that attains Heaven is CATHOLIC. We are members of the only CHURCH.
The church is the same today as it was in Peters day. It never has changed or can it change. Go back to the basics. Think it through what being a catholic means. There are entirely too many postings and not enough old fashioned common sense on these sites.
There is no salvation outside the Catholic church.

I thought that there’s actually been a lot of good postings on this thread. I’ve learned a lot.

 

[Aaron409]

The bottom line is it is DOGMA, that Outside the Catholic Church there is NO Salvation. Here are some examples of it dogmatically defined.

1 Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra: “Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.”

2 Pope Pius IV, Council of Trent, “Iniunctum nobis,” Nov. 13, 1565, ex cathedra: “This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved… I now profess and truly hold…”

3Pope Benedict XIV, Nuper ad nos, March 16, 1743, Profession of Faith: “This faith of the Catholic Church, without which no one can be saved, and which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold…”

4 Pope Pius IX, Vatican Council I, Session 2, Profession of Faith, 1870, ex cathedra: “This true Catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold…

 

[SeanTom]

Please correct me if i misunderstood, but do you mean that all Orthodox and Protestant Christains are doomed to hell? Is this a teaching of the Catholic Church?? I was under the impression that we were all ‘Brothers in Christ’ and that all Christian’s were on ‘the path to heaven’, even if they were different paths. If this is an official Catholic teaching can you cite the Catachism or some official Church document that i may research?

Catholic Catechism Article 847: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.” The phrase “through no fault of their own” can mean many things. But we must remember that we are all encouraged to find out as much as we can as to how we can attain God’s Heavenly Kingdom. “Through no fault of their own” doesn’t mean that one did not seek the truth, but refers to those who perhaps, for some reason or another, were hidden from the truth by force or otherwise restrained from knowing the truth through reading Scripture or Scriptural teachings."

Article 1037: “God predestines no one to go toHell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sinj) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.’”