Calvinism is a term of convenience. I agree with Calvin on a good many things. There are some non-essentials which I disagree with him on. There are plenty of Catholics who disagree with their church teachings and are considered by Catholicism as Catholics. Take Nancy Pelosi for example.
As to your other questions, I only refer you to Scripture. NO ONE, NADA, ZILCH, comes unless the Father draws him. It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us.
Signed,
Pope Blogger I
Catholics can speculate but they are not at liberty to be "Catholics a little bit." john Kerry who supports abortion may consider himself a Catholic but he is not. A American who openly supports Al-Qaida may be an American citizen by birth, but he is not an American; he is anti-American. Freedom of speech is not yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. The Bible does not give everyone the authority to be a self-styled "pope."
It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us
The Father draws us, but we don't have to come. We will be judged according to what we have done. That's why God gave us reason and choices.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. [2 Cor 5:10]
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done."[Rev 22:2]
As for God's mercy and justice, whatever happens to all of us will be merciful and just, as we deserved in God's eyes, because God is merciful and just.
No one here is Nancy Pelosi's confessor. Proabort politicians are generally considered excommunicated without formal pronouncement to that effect by their acts that support abortion. The controversy is, if she presents herself to the communion, should it be given? The assumption is that anytime anyone approaches the communion rail, he has examined his conscience and considers himself worthy of taking it. It is a grave act to publicly refuse communion and at the present time the Church leaves it up to the priest or his bishop. Typically, the left wing nominal Catholics who wish to receive communion go to the most liberal parishes they can find, as they know that more orthodox priests would turn them back.
It is worth noting here that the Church formally excommunicates only in the rarest of circumstances. Typically, it is only done to someone who publicly teaches a theological error. The bulk of the baptized Christians who do not practice in a Catholic or Orthodox Church fall off silently. There is no publicly announced moment when that happens.
And, there is always a way back. Those who already profess the Catholic Faith but lapsed due to personal sin can come to confession any time and restore their full communion. Those who need an instruction in faith need to go through the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). It has two phases: Inquiry and Catechumenate. On the Inquiry phase, the inquirer simply gets his questions answered while no assumption of his desire to join the Church is made. On the Catechumenate phase he declared his desire to become Catholic, receives the necessary instruction and goes through the necessary sacramental steps. Protestant baptism is generally recognized and Orthodox baptism is always recognized. I am not sure about the Orthodox chrysmation. The newly initiated usually receive the necessary rites and take their first communion on Easter.