I guess that is the difference between you and I. I don’t make a habit of thinking that my religion is the better of all others, and that because I am a Catholic, I have the inside track to eternity. I have Luthern friends and I have hillbilly red-neck friends…each to his own belief system (religion).
There are many paths and one journey. As a human being I don’t think I have any more insight than any other person of faith.
I saw in this thread two great extremes - indifferentism… and “Feenyism”.
To Julianna:
There is only one path - Jesus Christ. A Catholic beliver has a
good deal more insight than his non-Catholic neighbor. Does that mean he is a better person however? No. The very fact that we are Catholic believers means to believe in Jesus Christ as “The Way”… not one way among many, but “
The Way”. Jesus himself said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.
(I appreciate your humility too Julianna.) Here’s a great quote from the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” on “No Salvation Outside the Church”:
“Outside the Church there is no salvation”
846 "How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
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.
848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”
Can people in other religions be saved?
Absolutely. Not because of their religion however, but
despite their religion. They are saved by grace which comes from the implicit faith in Christ they have. (Even though they don’t
directly know Christ as Christians do.)
The traditionalists take the “Outside the Church there is no salvation” far too literally and rigorously. They think the Catholic Church’s current teaching on this started in the 1960’s. Guess again. Let’s go back a century and half - Pope Pius IX wrote in his encyclical “Quanto Conficiamur Moerore” in 1863:
- “Here, too, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, it is again necessary to mention and censure a very grave error entrapping some Catholics who believe that it is possible to arrive at eternal salvation although living in error and alienated from the true faith and Catholic unity. Such belief is certainly opposed to Catholic teaching. There are, of course, those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy religion. Sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace. Because God knows, searches and clearly understands the minds, hearts, thoughts, and nature of all, his supreme kindness and clemency do not permit anyone at all who is not guilty of deliberate sin to suffer eternal punishments.” (emphasis mine)
To latin_rite:
Considering what today’s “Catechism of the Catholic Church” and the encyclical of Pope Pius IX from 140 years earlier have to say… you need to learn a little charity… and
respect towards others who don’t have the grace to possess the fullness of Truth. Remember… Jesus said something that should keep us all eternally sober and humble - “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”. That applies to a good many Catholic I’ve run into over the years.
