I am simply explaining the meaning of “extra ecclesiam nulla salus”, often in response to hastily worded questions.
The distinction between informed rejection of the Church, — heresy, and the Protestantism based on cultural inertia and indifferentism, is indeed very important and I tried to convey it in simple terms in all these posts that to my surprise stirred a controversy.
In all of them I strove to make two points:
- conversion of the heart to the truths of the Catholic Church, albeit in an inartuculated way and at the hour of death is necessary for salvation, as well as, of course, good works in obedience to the Natural Law;
- formal conversion and self-identification with the visible Catholic Church is highly advisable for it greatly facilitates the above-mentioned conversion, but is not absolutely necessary.
I don’t think we disagree in the essentials.
I invite y'all to check out my husband's shapenote website, called Old Fields Singers. And while you're there, click on the link (on the left) called "Disclaimer." You'll see why.
Fa So La!
Consider, for example, the Orthodox. Often they are quite hostile to the visible Catholic Church: they don’t like our praxis, they think we allowed ourselves doctrinal innovations, — stuff like that. But a good obedient to his bishop Orthodox is in fact converted to the truths of the Catholic Church; to the extent that he dislikes Rome at all — and many Orthodox love Rome without fully embracing it — he follows his bishop and his historical bias. No mortal sin of rejection of the Christ’s Church has been committed; in fact, he lives and dies filled with desire of unity in truth as he knows it.
Contrast that with so common among the Protestants, especially of the Evangelical persuasion, cardinal rejection of the very purpose of the Christ’s Church: her sacramental priesthood, her apostolic episcopacy, her sacred deposit of patristic faith. Here the claim of unfortunate acculturation barely works, since so much in Evangelical preaching is expressly and substantively anti-Catholic, while Catholic catechism is these days available to all. At the very least we have a mortal sin of intentionally remaining in ignorance. When a semi-literate anti-Catholic slander is taken as truth, while the Catholic apologetics are offered and ignored, the invincible ignorance defense vanishes altogether.