I’ve been posting this from vatican.va, the only sire, so we’re told, that contains what the RCC “really” teaches.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says.....
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a9p3.htm
“Outside the Church there is no salvation”
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
So, all those Catholics that I grew up with and worked with who believe that non-Catholics are going to hell weren’t wrong. Who is wrong is those who call themselves Catholic who deny the basic tenets of their own religion.
I think the most disturbing part is the total misunderstanding of the above statement - BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH!
Obviously, from Scripture, we know that the "church" is the body of Christ and consists of ALL believers in Jesus Christ as savior - past, present, future. Like you said earlier, we become part of this body when we are saved. Therefore, this "body" doesn't save someone, it is the saved. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin - not a physical church, organization nor the "sacraments" they administer. So, can someone be saved who is outside of the church? Technically, no, because if you are saved you ARE part of the church!