Hi Alex -
I infer that without baptism, and presumably the performance of the other required sacraments, that union with God cannot be achieved. This leads me to ask what Catholics say about the salvation of those who have never had access to the sacraments, or those of non-Catholic Christian faith. On another thread, one Catholic explained to me (in effect) that, say, for Protestants, if we don't know that we should be Catholics then we might get a pass, but we are rolling the dice. I am curious as to how the Catholics on this thread would answer.
You then go on to say that most people who are baptized go on to commit actual sin even after baptism. Does this mean that some do not?
Catholicism distinguishes between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" means of salvation. The ordinary means of salvation are the sacraments of the Church: baptism, confirmation, confession and the Eucharist. One who properly received these sacraments is assured of salvation till such time that he sins again, at which point another confession becomes necessary. We derive the necessity of these from several statements of Christ or the apostles that tell us that we cannot be saved unless we have been baptised and unless we eat the flesh of Christ; stay away from sin, confess our sins, and for the priests to forgive our sins.
But at the same time we read of salvation of those who came in contact with Christ directly, like the Good Thief, and did not undergo a formal baptism. We also speculate that the righteous of the pre-Christian era were saved by Christ in His healing work on the Holy Saturday. So we say that these were extraordinary means of salvation, that Christ himself grants in his infinite mercy, bypassing His own sacraments.
The rest is really a mystery, and we are even asked not to speculate too much, because it is sinful and against scripture to judge the state of one's soul, or doubt Christ's justice and mercy. We believe that Christ judges all the baptised, Catholic and non-Catholic, based on the holiness of their lives. While there is no assurance of salvation outside of the Apostolic Catholic/Orthodox Church, a Christian life well lived in the love an in imitation of Christ leads to salvation. Non-Catholics should worry if they let their anti-Catholic sentiment get in the way of their own sanctification. If a Protestant spends his time hurting Christ's Church, he is thereby hurting his prospect of salvation. If however, he is culturally unable to come home to the Catholic or Orthodox Church due to the upbringing, yet his specific Protestant spirituality, such as meditation over the scripture and the works of Christ and the Apostles, leads him to a holy life, then he, we think, has "run the race" well.
A non-baptized person, the Church teaches, can reach salvation also, as long as he leads holy life based on what he knows. As St. Paul says, there is a basic moral law written in everyone's heart. One does not need to know Christ in order not to steal or not to murder or not to commit adultery. So if a pagan does not know Christ, never rejects Him, but holds on to what his religious instinct tells him about right and wrong, Christ will save him, or so we hope.
The problem is, of course, that when one is away from the sacraments of the Church, he is away of the protections of the Church that would have lead him in the right direction. So as a practical matter, many Protestants use their doctrines, especially the doctrine of assurance of salvation based on one-time declaration of faith, as an excuse from the daily yoke of Christ. Many Jews or Muslims expressly reject Christ. In other words, the more distant one is to the daily life of the Church, the more occasions are there for him to sin and be lost.
Does this mean that some do not [commit actual sin following baptism]?
Yes, -- for example those who die before age of reason, or unable to use reason due to a mental illness.