[Texas Eagle]

Really? Do all non-Catholics go to Hell?

[Texas Eagle]

...unless before death they are joined with Her;

You spell "her" with a capital, "H", eh? Interesting.

[LearnsFromMistakes]

That the Church has defined there is no salvation outside her

Glad I didn't go to 'the Church' for my salvation.

[DannyTN]

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[verdugo]

We all hate it when someone makes a promise and doesn’t keep it. “But you promised!” we will say, and, depending on the level of blame and sensitivity of conscience on the part of the offending party, the reaction can be one of great shame. If this is true of promises one is simply unable to keep because circumstances forbade it, it is more so in the case of false promises: that is, those made with no intention of keeping them, or those one had absolutely no authority to make. To promise salvation to a non-Catholic, either directly or indirectly, falls in the latter category as being particularly shameful. It is shameful because it is sinful. It is sinful because it offends not only against faith, but against the greatest Christian virtue: charity.

“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)

What makes us inside the Church? Three things: Divine and Catholic Faith (explicit in the principal mysteries — the Trinity and the Incarnation — and at least implicit in all other articles), sacramental baptism, and subjection to the Holy Father. These defining elements of Church membership expounded by St. Robert Bellarmine were authoritatively postulated by Pope Pius XII in Mystici Corporis:

Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.

[MEGoody]

To promise salvation to a non-Catholic, either directly or indirectly, falls in the latter category as being particularly shameful.

It's also shameful to promise salvation to Catholics.

Human beings can't save anyone. We can't do something for someone to save them, and they can't do anything for themselves to save themselves.

Jesus did what was necessary to provide salvation. He gave us the promises. The best we humans can do is to point others to Jesus and let the Lord do the rest.

[jroneil]

This group is is schism with the Catholic church and does not have authority to speak for the Catholic Church. They originally broke away with Father Feeney

[marshmallow]

To whom it may concern.........

About Br. Andre Marie.....

"He entered as a postulant for the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in May of 1993, and went on to the novitiate on Christmas of that year. He made profession of vows on Epiphany of 1996.

Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary........

"Our Crusade was begun by Father Leonard Feeney, who strove to combat the liberalizing of Catholic dogma which he saw as a major impediment to the conversion of America."

[DManA]

I believe in one catholic and apostolic church.

That’s catholic with a small “c”.

So it may be correct to say that there is no salvation outside of the one catholic and apostolic church. You just don’t have to be a member of the Roman branch of it.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Thankfully, there’s at least one person who disagrees:

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9

Doesn’t say a word about Catholicism, but rather about saving faith in Jesus Christ.

[dagogo redux]

Wow! As a Buddhist I must really be in deep do-do. Where do I sign up for this Catholic thingy?

And yet, it’s not as simple as I first thought: Moslems torture and kill me in this life if I don’t convert, and then Allah sends me to hell. Catholics at least won’t torture and kill me in this life (at this point in history, anyway . . . probably) - yet they still expect the Catholic God to send me to hell after I die - a kinder and gentler, more “charitable” posture, I suppose.

So, who has jurisdiction? Do I end up in the Moslem hell or the Catholic one? Or both? Do the eternal sentences run consecutively? Do I get any say in this, any appeal? And how does this fit in with the whole endowed by my Creator with certain inalienable rights thing? Inquiring Buddhists want to know.

[marron]

Hey, its OK. We were taught the same thing about you.

[marron]

Actually, I’m obviously no expert on the details of catholic doctrine (although I read catholic authors, not as catholics, but as fellow Christians), but we recently had a thread here on the same subject which I read in detail.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2659288/posts

The jist of it is that this was Feeney’s position, but the catholic church did not agree.

[johngrace]

Wow! You should listen to Catholic Answers! They do not believe this on Ewtn in the afternoon. Since Trent after the first generation of Trent. Nada! They are highly educated. Canon lawyers and theologians. Try listening.