August 19, 2010 I had written:
Jeff Mirus who works for Trinity Communications writes in an e-mail that the ex cathedra dogma does not say everyone needs to be a visible, formal member of the Catholic Church. This is a falsehood by Mirus.
Trinity Communications, VA has also placed a report on the Internet which reports the same lie .
In his e-mail to me he indicates that his interpretation of Vatican Council II is the only interpretation of the Catholic Magisterium .
He has not provided any text to support his view.
There is another interpretation of Vatican Council II, which is different from his. So to claim that Vatican Council II has one interpretation, which is his, is another falsehood. It’s a lie to claim that his view is the official teaching of the Catholic Magisterium.
The issue needs to be settled by a secular authority.
1. Does the ex cathedra text of extra ecclesiam nulla salus per se say that everyone needs to be a visible, formal member of the Church with no exceptions? Yes or No.The text of the ex cathedra dogma Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441 is there in black and white. This issue can be settled in itself without Vatican Council II which came centuries later.
So a Judge has just to be asked; is Jeff Mirus and Trinity Communications repeating a lie about Catholics and their beliefs? Does the Cantate Domino state everyone on earth needs to be a visible, formal member of the Catholic Church?We are not asking a religious question but an objective question based on objective text.
Summary
1. The Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441 is an ex cathedra dogma and supersedes other Church Documents and it’s for all time. It says everyone needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church. (This is affirmed in Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II and Dominus Iesus).
The report placed by Trinity Communications on the Internet is false.
UPDATED APOLOGETICS: EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS
1. LETTER OF THE HOLY OFFICE 1949
In the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 Pope Pius XII said all Jews in Boston are on the way to Hell and they need to convert. He indicated this when he referred to the ‘dogma’, ‘the infallible teaching’.
2. VATICAN COUNCIL II, LUMEN GENTIUM 16
There cannot be an explicit baptism of desire that we know of, neither can we judge cases of explicit invincible ignorance since we cannot read the heart of any person.
LG 16 refers to something implicit, known only as a concept. Probable, possible but not a reality. We do not know explicitly or implicitly (in principle) any case of a good conscience, the baptism of desire or blood or invincible ignorance in the present times or the last 100 years (If the Church declares that someone is a martyr only the Church has the right to judge).
3. FR. LEONARD FEENEY NOT EXCOMMNICATED FOR HERESY
There is no church document which says he was excommunicated for heresy. He was excommunicated for disobedience. Over time it has become clear that it was the Archbishop and Jesuits at Boston who rejected the rigorist interpretation of the ex. cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.The Archbishop Richard Cushing never issued a clarification when the Boston newspapers reported that eh Church has changed its centuries old teaching.
4. INFALLIBLE DOGMAS DO NOT DEVELOP
There is no Church document to support the position that the ex cathedra dogma extra excclesiam nulla salus has been ‘developed’ or ‘changed’ or ‘retracted’. Infallible teachings defined three times do not 'develop'.
5. SALVATION OF CHRISTIANS (NON CATHOLICS)
Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council Ii says all people need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation. No church document says Christians (non Catholics) religions are the ordinary way to salvation. If a Christian is saved in his religions it will be known to only God. God can provide the helps in this exceptional case, which could include the baptism of water. In Heaven there are only Catholics.
6.HERESY
In the Apostles and Nicene Creed we pray, ‘I believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sin’ and ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church’. Everyone needs the baptism of water to remove Original sin for salvation. It is the Holy Spirit which guides the Church to teach through the centuries the ‘rigorist interpretation’ of extra ecclesiam nulla salus. To reject the Nicene and Apostles Creed is a first class heresy in the hierarchy of truths. It would also be a rejection of the Athanasius Creed which states outside the church there is no salvation.
7. EUCHARIST
So it is mortal sin to change an ex cathedra dogma or to reject its meaning. It is a first class heresy.A person is automatically excommunicated.He has no right to receive the Eucharist at Mass.Neither can he offer Mass if he is a priest.He first needs to receive absolution in the Confessional and remove the public scandal.
8.SUPERIOR HAS TO BE A CATHOLIC
A Superior ( juridical person according to Canon Law ) has to be a Catholic. So he needs to affirm in public every ex cathedra dogma.Otherwise he cannot hold his office.Neither can one receive the Eucharist in this condition.
Here is the ex cathedra dogma which every Superior according to Canon Law are obligated to affirm and teach others.
1. “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215). Ex cathedra.
2.“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.).Ex cathedra.
3.“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.) Ex cathedra – from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements Regarding EENS
9.THERE ARE TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF VATICAN COUNCIL II
The first is: everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church for salvation (Ad Gentes 7) except for those in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire etc (LG 16).
The second is: everyone needs to be a visible, formal, ‘card-carrying member’ of the Catholic Church and there are no exceptions (AG 7) and if there was someone in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire or a good conscience it would be known only to God.
10. BAPTISM OF DESIRE IS NOT OPPOSED TO THE DOGMA
Baptism of desire is usually interpreted as being opposed to the dogma which says that everyone needs to be a visible, formal member of the Church with no exceptions. We can also interpret Vatican Council II as saying that everyone needs to be a visible member of the Church to avoid Hell and if there is anyone with the Baptism of desire or in invincible ignorance it will be known only to God.
There is no Church Document which suggests that baptism of desire, invincible ignorance should be placed in opposition to the need of formal entry into the Catholic Church for everyone with no exception.
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