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Elaine
Cooke
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
I find the No Salvation outside the Church doctrine
is greatly misunderstood.
I've even heard Catholic
apologists refer to it as a slogan.
They believe it's true, sort of — but, not exactly true.
- Isn't that much like embracing the doctrine
of the Real Presence just like a Lutheran would?
Please understand, I am no Feeneyite.
I've studied Feeneyite beliefs in detail and
I can see that they have a mistaken understanding
of the teaching on justification. Very few Catholics
understand where the Feeneyites went wrong.
All
they know is that the Feeneyites are wrong. So,
many, dare I say, most Catholics assume there
really is salvation outside the Church and that
most people are safe enough in their Protestant
pews.
- What are your teachings in regards to this doctrine?
Thanks,
Elaine
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{
Is "No
Salvation Outside The Church" just a slogan; and what are your teachings on this doctrine? }
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Mike replied:
Hi, Elaine —
Thanks for the question.
Well, our teachings are not what is important!
What is important is what the Catholic Church teaches, believes, and expects it followers
to believe (in word and deeds/actions). We
just strive to pass on what the Church has taught and clarified for the
faithful since 33 A.D.
People do go to the extremes on this very important doctrine of the Church
that, I believe, we don't hear enough from the pulpit.
I found a pretty good [PDF] article from our colleagues at Catholic
Answers that I would like to share with you. Here is a quote from
it:
The Church is the necessary instrument for people to find salvation.
The Second Vatican Council affirmed that the Catholic Church is the "sole
Church of Christ" that Christ established on the earth (Lumen Gentium 8). In the teaching and sacramental ministry of the Church, Jesus Christ
is made known to the world for the salvation of the human race. No one
would have access to Christ's salvation if the Church were not
in the world. In that sense the Church is necessary. But Christ's
salvation is not limited to the boundaries of formal membership in the
Church. In other words, we know from Christ's teaching in the Bible
that the Church is necessary, but the Church holds out hope for those
outside the Church that they too may be saved. |
There is a similar piece below.
Simplified version: (all three are important in explaining
this important Church Teaching correctly.)
- those who through no fault of their own, don't know the Gospel of Christ
or his Church, but seek with a sincere heart can be saved.
- those who know the Church to be the True Church, yet refuse to enter
it, can not be saved.
- All people are bound to form their conscience and grow in knowledge
of their own faith and grow in knowledge of the historical nature
of their church and faith.
- In doing so, they either:
- confirm they belong to the
One Church Jesus established on St. Peter (Matthew 16:13-19) and His successors, or
- belong to a congregation started by a mere man who cannot trace his divine authority back to the Apostles and the authority of Jesus, St. Peter, and his successors through the laying on of hands.
Therefore, any minister who has not received valid Holy Orders, has a false ministerial authority. Nevertheless, he, like all baptized Christians, has a true universal priesthood. Because of this priesthood, we are all obliged to proclaim the Gospel to the waiting world that has never heard of Christ, Our Blessed Lord.
RE: Fr. Leonard Feeney and the so called Feeneyites.
I would be careful Elaine not to pre-judge what you think the Benedictines
at Harvard believe(d).
There was an ecumenical, faith-sharing culture back
then, some would argue, more than what we have today. Fr. Leonard and the Benedictines
from Cambridge gave talks every Sunday on the Boston Common. They were inspired
by Frank Sheed's public preaching in Hyde Park, London.
It wasn't until Boston College (and surrounding colleges and universities
in the area) started to
misinterpret this doctrine that
things got confusing. Newspapers were printing some things that were true, but many other things that were false. Fr. Leonard was asked to come to Rome to explain his views, but he refused to go.
I was only three
years old when Fr. Leonard was excommunicated for discipline. You would
have to be anywhere from 65 to 90 years old to make any possible objective
assessment of what happened back then. If you are a fair-minded
person, who wishes to get, the other side of the story, I strongly recommend
all our readers get a copy of From Harvard to Harvard by Abbot Gabriel Gibbs. He lived through this period of time.
Be fair, get their side of the story, before using
condescending, disdainful, derogatory words like the Feeneyites.
RE: Their teaching on Justification.
I can't make an objective assessment of what each Benedictine believes
at St. Benedict. After the Catechism of the Catholic Church came out, I was very concerned that one
monk appeared to disagree with the Catechism on certain issues: like
Baptism by Blood and Baptism by Desire.
Although I owe much of my spiritual growth to these Benedictines, when
I have to make a choice between friends and the Church. I choose the Church.
Because of my knowledge about what happened during the times of Fr. Leonard
and his monks,
I believe it is important to reiterate two things about
Fr. Leonard:
- he was not excommunicated for doctrinal reasons, but discipline, like Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
- he was [exonerated|vindicated] by Rome before his death. The heading
that precedes paragraph 846 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is a testament to this.
If you live in the area, I would encourage you to make a visit to the Abbey and converse with them. They are a very welcoming group of Benedictines.
I've appended some quotes from the Early Church Fathers on this issue; they lived anywhere from 100 A.D. to 850 A.D. My colleague Bob also replied to a
similar question.
Again, Thanks for writing,
Mike Humphrey
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The Salvation of Non-Catholics
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, following historic
Christian theology since the time of the early Church Fathers, refers to
the Catholic Church as the universal sacrament of salvation (CCC 774-776) , and states:
"The Church in this world is the sacrament
of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men" (CCC
780).
Many people misunderstand the nature of this teaching. Indifferentists,
going to one extreme, claim that it makes no difference what church one
belongs to and that salvation can be attained through any of them. Certain
radical traditionalists, going to the other extreme, claim that unless
one is a full-fledged, baptized member of the Catholic Church, one will
be damned.
The following quotations from the Church Fathers give
the straight story. They show that the Early Church had the same position
on this as the contemporary Church does — that is, while it is normatively
necessary to be a Catholic to be saved (see CCC 846; Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 14) , there are exceptions, and it is possible in some circumstances
for people to be saved who have not been fully initiated into the Catholic
Church (CCC 847) .
Notice that the same Fathers who declare the normative
necessity of being Catholic also declare the possibility of salvation for
some who are not Catholics. These can be saved by what later came to be
known as baptism of blood or baptism of desire (for
more on the subject, see the Fathers Know Best pamphlet, Baptism
of Water, Blood, and Desire, The Necessity of Baptism).
The Fathers likewise affirm the possibility of salvation
for those who lived before Christ and who were not part of Israel, the
Old Testament Church.
However, for those who knowingly and deliberately (that
is, not out of innocent ignorance) commit the sins of heresy (rejecting
divinely revealed doctrine) or schism (separating from the Catholic Church
and/or joining a schismatic church), no salvation would be possible until
they repented and returned to live in Catholic unity.
Ignatius of Antioch
"Be not deceived, my brethren: If anyone follows
a maker of schism [i.e., is a schismatic], he does not inherit the kingdom
of God; if anyone walks in strange doctrine [i.e., is a heretic], he
has no part in the Passion [of Christ]. Take care, then, to use one Eucharist,
so that whatever you do, you do according to God: For there is one flesh
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of his blood; one
altar, as there is one bishop, with the presbytery and my fellow servants,
the deacons" (Letter to the Philadelphians 3:3-4:1 [A.D. 110]) .
Justin Martyr
"We have been taught that Christ is the first-begotten
of God, and we have declared him to be the Logos of which all mankind
partakes [John 1:9] . Those, therefore, who lived according to reason
[Greek, logos] were really Christians, even though they were thought
to be atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and
others like them. . . . Those who lived before Christ but did not live
according to reason [logos] were wicked men, and enemies of Christ, and
murderers of those who did live according to reason [logos], whereas
those who lived then or who live now according to reason [logos] are
Christians. Such as these can be confident and unafraid" (First Apology 46 [A.D. 151]) .
Irenaeus of Lyons
"In the Church God has placed apostles, prophets,
teachers, and every other working of the Spirit, of whom none of those
are sharers who do not conform to the Church, but who defraud themselves
of life by an evil mind and even worse way of acting. Where the Church
is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is
the Church and all grace" (Against Heresies 3:24:1 [A.D. 189]) .
Irenaeus of Lyons
"[The spiritual man] shall also judge those who
give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the love of God, and who look
to their own special advantage rather than to the unity of the Church;
and who for trifling reasons, or any kind of reason which occurs to them,
cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and so
far as in them lies, destroy it — men who prate of peace while they give
rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel.
For they can bring about no 'Reformation' of enough importance to compensate
for the evil arising from their schism. . . . True knowledge is that
which consists in the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution
of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation
of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by
which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place [i.e.,
the Catholic Church]" (Against Heresies, 4:33:7-8) .
Clement of Alexandria
"Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy was
necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for piety
. . . for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the Law did the Hebrews" (Miscellanies 1:5 [A.D. 208]) .
Origen
"[T]here was never a time when God did not want
men to be just; he was always concerned about that. Indeed, he always
provided beings endowed with reason with occasions for practicing virtue
and doing what is right. In every generation the Wisdom of God descended
into those souls which he found holy and made them to be prophets and
friends of God" (Against Celsus 4:7 [A.D. 248]) .
Origen
"If someone from this people wants to be saved,
let him come into to this house so that he may be able to attain his
salvation . . . Let no one, then, be persuaded otherwise, nor let anyone
deceive himself: Outside of this house, that is, outside of the Church,
no one is saved; for, if anyone should go out of it, he is guilty of
his own death" (Homilies on Joshua 3:5 [A.D. 250]) .
Cyprian of Carthage
"Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined
to an adulteress [a schismatic church] is separated from the promises
of the Church, nor will he that forsakes the Church of Christ attain
to the rewards of Christ. He is an alien, a worldling, and an enemy.
He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother" (The
Unity of the Catholic Church 6, 1st ed. [A.D. 251]) .
Cyprian of Carthage
"Let them not think that the way of life or salvation
exists for them, if they have refused to obey the bishops and priests,
since the Lord says in the book of Deuteronomy: `And any man who has
the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest or judge, whoever he
may be in those days, that man shall die' [Deuteronomy 17:12-13]. And then,
indeed, they were killed with the sword . . . but now the proud and insolent
are killed with the sword of the Spirit, when they are cast out from
the Church. For they cannot live outside, since there is only one house
of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone except in the Church" (Letters 61[4]:4 [A.D. 253]) .
Cyprian of Carthage
"[T]he baptism of public witness [desire] and of
blood cannot profit a heretic unto salvation, because there is no salvation
outside the Church." (Letters 72 [73]:21 [A.D. 253]) .
Treatise on Rebaptism
"[O]utside the Church there is no Holy Spirit,
sound faith moreover cannot exist, not alone among heretics, but even
among those who are established in schism" (Treatise on Re-Baptism 10 [A.D. 256]).
Lactantius
"It is, therefore, the Catholic Church alone which
retains true worship. This is the fountain of truth; this, the domicile
of faith; this, the temple of God. Whoever does not enter there or whoever
does not go out from there, he is a stranger to the hope of life and
salvation. . . . Because, however, all the various groups of heretics
are confident that they are the Christians and think that theirs is the
Catholic Church, let it be known that this is the true Church, in which
there is confession and penance and which takes a health-promoting care
of the sins and wounds to which the weak flesh is subject" (Divine Institutes 4:30:11-13 [A.D. 307]) .
Jerome
"Heretics bring sentence upon themselves since
they by their own choice withdraw from the Church, a withdrawal which,
since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation. Between heresy and
schism there is this difference: that heresy involves perverse doctrine,
while schism separates one from the Church on account of disagreement
with the bishop. Nevertheless, there is no schism which does not trump
up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church" (Commentary
on Titus 3:10-11 [A.D. 386]) .
Augustine
"We believe also in the holy Church, that is, the
Catholic Church. For heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion
about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile
separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently,
neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics,
because the Church loves God; and not schismatics, because the Church
loves neighbor" (Faith and the Creed 10:21 [A.D. 393]) .
Augustine
"[J]ust as baptism is of no profit to the man who
renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit
to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he
amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was
not profitable, but was yet already in him" (On Baptism, Against
the Donatists 4:4[6] [A.D. 400]) .
Augustine
"I do not hesitate to put the Catholic catechumen,
burning with divine love, before a baptized heretic. Even within the
Catholic Church herself we put the good catechumen ahead of the wicked
baptized person. . . . . For Cornelius, even before his baptism, was
filled up with the Holy Spirit [Acts 10:44-48] , while Simon [Magus],
even after his baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit [Acts 8:13-19] " (On Baptism, Against
the Donatists,
4:21[28]) .
Augustine
"When we speak of within and without in relation
to the Church, it is the position of the heart that we must consider,
not that of the body . . . All who are within [the Church] in heart are
saved in the unity of the ark" (On Baptism, Against
the Donatists, 5:28[39]) .
Augustine
"The apostle Paul said, `As for a man that is a
heretic, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do
with him' [Titus 3:10]. But those who maintain their own opinion, however
false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially those who
have not originated the error of bold presumption, but have received
it from parents who had been led astray and had lapsed . . . those who
seek the truth with careful industry and are ready to be corrected when
they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics" (Letters
43:1 [A.D. 412]) .
Augustine
"Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church,
by this single sin of being separated from the unity of Christ, no matter
how estimable a life he may imagine he is living, shall not have life,
but the wrath of God rests upon him" (Letters
43:1, 141:5) .
Fulgence of Ruspe
"Anyone who receives the sacrament of baptism,
whether in the Catholic Church or in a heretical or schismatic one, receives
the whole sacrament; but salvation, which is the strength of the sacrament,
he will not have, if he has had the sacrament outside the Catholic Church.
He must therefore return to the Church, not so that he might receive
again the sacrament of baptism, which no one dare repeat in any baptized
person, but so that he may receive eternal life in Catholic society,
for the obtaining of which no one is suited who, even with the sacrament
of baptism, remains estranged from the Catholic Church" (The Rule
of Faith 43 [A.D. 524]).
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