What do Catholics think happens to Dead Protestants?

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frfreddie

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My wife and I are just beginning our conversion. She thinks Catholics believe non-Catholics go to hell when they die. Her deceased grandmother, a devout Southern Baptist, has always been her idol, and she’s having touble working this out.

I tell her Catholics don’t believe that, but it would be nice to point her to a writing somewhere. Does anyone have a link to something that discusses this? Thanks in advance.
 
I think they go to Heaven (maybe Purgatory), if they lived a good life and did there sincere best to follow God’s teachings. This applies to both Catholics and non-catholics.
 
frfreddie said:
My wife and I are just beginning our conversion. She thinks Catholics believe non-Catholics go to hell when they die. Her deceased grandmother, a devout Southern Baptist, has always been her idol, and she’s having touble working this out.

I tell her Catholics don’t believe that, but it would be nice to point her to a writing somewhere. Does anyone have a link to something that discusses this? Thanks in advance.
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Catholic or no, devout Christians are saved through Jesus.

Purgatory is real. When we die and we deserve heaven, we still have to be cleaned from all sin and attachements to sin before we can enter into God’s Glory, so we go through Purgatory.
Now, Catholic or no, we’ll all have to go through Purgatory before we can enter into heaven…even if one does not believe in Purgatory, it’s real and necessary.

Full knowledge and culpability ply big parts in guilt of sin, but no matter the issue, Jesus is the Supreme Just Judge and will judge each of us fairly according to his/her life. Then, we’ll be totally cleansed and then enter into His Glory!

I hope this helps 🙂
 
“What do Catholics think happens to Dead Protestants?”

Why, we think they are now Catholic!

We are all ONE and Universally Children of God in Heaven.

So, we will ALL be Catholics!
 
johnnyjoe said:
“What do Catholics think happens to Dead Protestants?”

Why, we think they are now Catholic!

We are all ONE and Universally Children of God in Heaven.

So, we will ALL be Catholics!
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lol

Thank you for that.

That really made my day. 😃
 
frfreddie said:
My wife and I are just beginning our conversion. She thinks Catholics believe non-Catholics go to hell when they die. Her deceased grandmother, a devout Southern Baptist, has always been her idol, and she’s having touble working this out.

I tell her Catholics don’t believe that, but it would be nice to point her to a writing somewhere. Does anyone have a link to something that discusses this? Thanks in advance.
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My mother is a dead Baptist and I pray for her often and request her to pray for me and my family, the beauty of the communion of Saints.

I figure her prayers for me all these years of being her son helped me along my path to where I’m at now, in full communion with the Catholic Church. I don’t know where she is at, I have a an idea and hope, but I know she believed in Christ’s gift of salvation the best she knew how…

I have hope in the message of Christ and have great hope in His Mercy…

Bennie P ><>
 
I feel they go to heaven and the catechism seems to make it clear for me anyway. If your wife reads the section on salvation she will feel better about it. I know I did. I’m not on my regular lap top so I don’t have access to which section it is. My mother is United Methodist 🙂

Anyone tells me that my dear mother isn’t going to heaven I’m afraid they would be in for a fight on thier hands :mad:
 
Bennie_P said:
My mother is a dead Baptist and I pray for her often and request her to pray for me and my family, the beauty of the communion of Saints.

I figure her prayers for me all these years of being her son helped me along my path to where I’m at now, in full communion with the Catholic Church. I don’t know where she is at, I have a an idea and hope, but I know she believed in Christ’s gift of salvation the best she knew how…

I have hope in the message of Christ and have great hope in His Mercy…

Bennie P ><>
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This is beauifully put Bennie, no doubt your mother is with Christ 🙂 I really believe our prayers make a difference.
 
Here’s what the Catechism says:
**819 **“Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth” are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: “the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.” Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to “Catholic unity.”
 
I have a Protestant relative who likewise believes that Catholics are convinced that only Catholics are admitted to heaven. What was surprising to me was that he never asked Catholics what they believe in, Catholics being the experts on what they themselves believe.
Supplying an official Catholic document that says otherwise might do the trick. I wonder too if it would help asking them calmly why they believe this? But you know your family better than I do.
 
mdgspencer said:
I have a Protestant relative who likewise believes that Catholics are convinced that only Catholics are admitted to heaven. What was surprising to me was that he never asked Catholics what they believe in, Catholics being the experts on what they themselves believe.
Supplying an official Catholic document that says otherwise might do the trick. I wonder too if it would help asking them calmly why they believe this? But you know your family better than I do.
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I think the problem is that there are many Catholics who do believe there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church and they share this with others, at times very passionately 🙂 I’ve seen it debated in apologetics many times. It gets rather heated.
 
I realized you asked for a link. Here is the catechism. This is a decent website, easy to look certain topics up instead of trying to find them! The catechism is big! If you type in “salvation outside the Church” in the search field, it will take you there. 🙂

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm
 
Well, personally, I believe in The Simpsons vision of heaven. There’s e.g. an Episcopalean Heaven, where everybody wears sweaters tied around their waists, always use the correct forks when eating, and play a lot of croquet. Then there’s the Catholic Heaven, where the Catholics are all lined up across, arms/hands at the side, and Riverdancing.

🙂

Late Edit: Found this link after posting the above…
youtube.com/watch?v=_RMzA82H-Qo

And wikipedia provided this description of the episode:

On the road, Marge and Lovejoy try to bring Bart back to the “one true faith”: The Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism.
 
anamchara said:
I think the problem is that there are many Catholics who do believe there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church and they share this with others, at times very passionately 🙂 I’ve seen it debated in apologetics many times. It gets rather heated.
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Well, those who contend for this are absolutely correct. A person who is truely devoted to God but outside the Catholic Church in this part of their lives may have a “time” of it in Purgatory but at the end of it they will be Catholic. There is no salvation outside the Church. Why else would anyone convert?

CDL
 
It depends…

If they are protesting against the Catholic Church out of ignorance, then I’m sure they will be judged by the same standards as Catholics.

On the other hand if they are protesting out of spite against a Church they now has a legitimate claim to authority, then I’m not so optimistic. Then again who in their right mind would that 😉
 
GregoryPalamas said:
Well, those who contend for this are absolutely correct. A person who is truely devoted to God but outside the Catholic Church in this part of their lives may have a “time” of it in Purgatory but at the end of it they will be Catholic. There is no salvation outside the Church. Why else would anyone convert?

CDL
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Here we go again. Pls read your catechism (the Roman one anyway, I just noticed you are eastern rite). You are not correct.
 
mikew262 said:
Here we go again. Pls read your catechism (the Roman one anyway, I just noticed you are eastern rite). You are not correct.
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We have no separate catechism. Just for fun tell me what it is to which you object. Paragraphs please.

CDL
 
frfreddie said:
My wife and I are just beginning our conversion. She thinks Catholics believe non-Catholics go to hell when they die. Her deceased grandmother, a devout Southern Baptist, has always been her idol, and she’s having touble working this out.

I tell her Catholics don’t believe that, but it would be nice to point her to a writing somewhere. Does anyone have a link to something that discusses this? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
My Grandmother was also Baptist as I was raised Southern Baptist. She was a very devout and holy woman and I have sincere confidence that she is in heaven. Catholicism does NOT teach that Protestants are going to hell, only those who go to hell are those who by their own free will choose NOT to follow what God, by His grace, revealed to them as truth; those who are in mortal sin at death. Essentially everyone has a chance at heaven whether Catholic or not if they trust their lives to Jesus Christ or to what they know to be true and follow what they have been shown as the truth from God. God is a just God and won’t condemn anyone who is not culpable of what he/she doesn’t know for sure to be true. However, it is easier to be saved being a Catholic since the Church has the fullness of divinely revealed truth and keeps us on the straight path of faith and morals.
Luke 12:48 says…
" Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."We are all accountable to what we know whether it is great or small. Protestant Christians who live a life of faith in Jesus, hope, and love and don’t know they are compeled to become Catholic still receive eternal life if they obey what they knew to be true, since they didn’t know they were obligated to become Catholic. God only accounts us culpable of what we “know” to be true. It’s NOT the Church’s job nor anyone else to judge the state of a persons heart at death, since we all have free will and can turn towards or away from God in this life. Catholicism simply says that it has the fullness of divinely revealed truth, so to be Catholic is the easiest way to acheive eternal life.
 
Bishopite said:
My Grandmother was also Baptist as I was raised Southern Baptist. She was a very devout and holy woman and I have sincere confidence that she is in heaven. Catholicism does NOT teach that Protestants are going to hell, only those who go to hell are those who by their own free will choose NOT to follow what God, by His grace, revealed to them as truth; those who are in mortal sin at death. Essentially everyone has a chance at heaven whether Catholic or not if they trust their lives to Jesus Christ or to what they know to be true and follow what they have been shown as the truth from God. God is a just God and won’t condemn anyone who is not culpable of what he/she doesn’t know for sure to be true. However, it is easier to be saved being a Catholic since the Church has the fullness of divinely revealed truth and keeps us on the straight path of faith and morals.
Luke 12:48 says…
" Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."We are all accountable to what we know whether it is great or small. Protestant Christians who live a life of faith in Jesus, hope, and love and don’t know they are compeled to become Catholic still receive eternal life if they obey what they knew to be true, since they didn’t know they were obligated to become Catholic. God only accounts us culpable of what we “know” to be true. It’s NOT the Church’s job nor anyone else to judge the state of a persons heart at death, since we all have free will and can turn towards or away from God in this life. Catholicism simply says that it has the fullness of divinely revealed truth, so to be Catholic is the easiest way to acheive eternal life.
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You are correct. This is what the church teaches. 👍
 
GregoryPalamas said:
We have no separate catechism. Just for fun tell me what it is to which you object. Paragraphs please.

CDL
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Those outside the Church may obtain salvation. Here is what the Church teaches:

CCC 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.1
 
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