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Elaine Cooke wrote:

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

  { Is "No Salvation Outside The Church" just a slogan; and what are your teachings on this doctrine? }

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:

  1. he was not excommunicated for doctrinal reasons, but discipline, like Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
  2. 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


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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