Hi, Karen —
Thanks for your question.
For the record, the Catholic Church
has never officially said anyone
is in Hell.
Prior to Vatican II some individuals
in the Church held to an erroneous
understanding of Church doctrine.
The Church teaches and has always
taught: “Outside
the Church there is no Salvation.”
That is to be understood as meaning
the Catholic Church is the Church
founded by Christ Himself. As
such, it is in, and through the Church,
that it is possible for men to be
saved. The Church is the Body of
Christ and therefore Christ acts
in and through His Body.
That said,
were it not for the Church, there
would be no Salvation; with that
we recognize that there is one Baptism
and one Church. Even Protestants
are Catholics, in an imperfect way.
They are called by the Holy Spirit
to continue to pursue the truth.
Of course, they would deny this but,
the fact is, a Protestant is simply
a Protesting Catholic.
Returning to your question, some
people misunderstood this doctrine
and took it to mean one had to be
a card carrying Catholic in
order to have a chance of being saved.
Well, the Church has never taught
that and will
never teach that any particular person
will go to Hell.
Hell was made for satan and his demons,
not for people. Some people will
go there, but we don't know
whom. At best, we can think or speculate that
Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ
went to Hell. There are some texts
in the book of Acts that seem to
imply that he was condemned, but
the Church has never officially said this.
The Catholic Church is the same Church:
pre-Vatican II or post-Vatican II.
Vatican II didn't change anything
we believe. It couldn't if
it wanted to. The doctrines of the
Church may develop, but in the process,
they never negate anything that was
previously believed. Again, it's
important to distinguish between
actual doctrines and theological
opinions some may have held.
At any rate, the Church can't
go back to Pre-Vatican II era because
it didn't go anywhere to begin
with. Now, there were changes in
practice. For instance:
- the Western Church or Latin
Rite stopped requiring the Mass
to be said in Latin.
- the priest started facing the
people instead of the altar
but these aren't doctrinal
changes. They are disciplines and,
in that respect, there are some who
still enjoy the old disciplines,
some of which are being restored,
but not across the board.
For instance, the Latin Tridentine
Mass is offered in every diocese
but it's considered extraordinary.
You won't find it in every
parish. There is also a movement
to restore a sense of tradition,
majesty, and reverence during the
Liturgy and that's pretty much
a good thing.
For close to fifty years, there has
been a lot of uncalled for and unauthorized
experimentation, but Vatican II never
authorized those changes.
They were abuses. A bunch of people
decided they could go crazy and change
anything they wanted to.
The Church made a few changes so
people could better understand what
was happening during the Mass. That's
it.
Well I hope this helps,
John DiMascio
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