Ah, so you believe the the parable of the lost son is relevant to Christian non-Catholics becoming Catholic? So these people have “set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living” (Luke 15:13)? That is your impression of the Evangelical church?
I believe that Jesus Christ established One, Holy Catholic, Apostolic Church.
I believe that baptism is necessary, but not sufficient for salvation.
That is why He gave us the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Church.
Baptism is by desire, blood, or water, but the ordinary way is with water.
I believe that while it is His desire that we receive the sacraments, for our own benefit, and so that we have the means of further sanctification, it is possible for one who dies with complete contrition for his sins and a desire for baptism, to gain salvation through the merits of the Catholic Church-particularly through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
I believe that because Catholics are given so much, that Catholics are held to a higher standard than non-Catholics.
I also believe that Catholics who do God’s will are rewarded justly in Heaven.
So, the lost and separated are non-Catholics and fallen away Catholics, and even practicing Catholics who have fallen into serious sin.
Salvation is possible for all of them, but the further one travels into the blinding snowstorm, the harder it will be to find one’s way out.