There is a lot of importance given to Vatican Council II on the website of the Catholic Diocese of Calgary.The bishop of Calgary, Bishop Frederick Henry assumes that invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire are exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.So Vatican Council II would be a break with the past since they use this false premise.
The false premise of being able to see the dead was used by the Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Richard Cushing in the Fr.Leonard Feeney case in the 1940's. It is repeated in the diocese of Calgary and perhaps also the SSPX church St.Dennis Catholic Church,Calgary.
There are no exceptions of implicit desire and invincible ignorance since we do not know of any such case in the Year of Faith.Vatican Council II states all need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation (Ad Gentes 7).(1) This is in agreement with ‘the dogma’ the ‘infallible teaching’ which Pope Pius XII mentioned when referring to extra ecclesiam nulla salus.(2)
The dogma is based on John 3:5 (on the necessity of the baptism of water for salvation) and Mark 16:16 (on the necessity of the church). Mark 9:38-40 ( those who are not visible members of the Church and not against us) does not contradict Mark 16:16 (those who do not believe will be condemned). Thos who are not against us and who are saved are known only to Jesus. So they do not contradict the dogma. While everyone on earth needs the baptism of water and Catholic Faith and those who do not believe after being informed will be condemned.(LG 14).
The Bible, the Letter of the Holy Office nor Vatican Council II (LG 16) contradict the dogma on exclusive salvation.Since we do not know any one in 2013 who is an exception. If something does not exist in real life it cannot be an exception.We cannot name anyone today saved with implicit desire, invincible ignorance or a good conscience.There may not even be a single case over the last 100 years.We don't know.
There are no known exceptions of implicit desire, invincible ignorance(LG 16) , seeds of the Word (AG), elements of sanctification(LG 8), imperfect communion with the church(UR) or 'good and holy' non Catholics saved (NA)- who are known to us personally.They are known only to God.So they are irrelevant to extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Vatican Council II (AG 7) also says outside the church there is no salvation. It says all need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation (AG 7). ALL.Protestants have the baptism of water but do not have Catholic Faith.According to Vatican Council II (AG 7) Protestants in the Diocese of Calgary are oriented to Hell unless they convert into the Catholic Church. They do not have access to the Sacrament of Confession and cannot receive the Eucharist.They know about the Church and yet do not enter.According to Lumen Gentium 14 they are on the way to Hell unless they convert before death.
Ad Gentes 7 indicates all Protestants need Catholic Faith for salvation. AG 7 is not contradicted by Lumen Gentium 16 (3) since we do not know any one saved in invincible ignorance and with a good conscience(LG 16).Neither does the Council claim that these cases are known in the present times.We accept them as possibilities. De facto (explicitly) we can never know the dead saved who are now visible to us as they are in Heaven.
Lumen Gentium 16 is not an exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus defined by three Church Councils.So the liberal interpretation of Vatican Council II in the Diocese of Calgary with the false premise - is false.
The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston supported Fr.Leonard Feeney when it mentiond ‘the dogma’, the ‘infallible teaching’. It does not mention any ‘exceptions’.Th priest said that there were no exceptions. There were no explicit or implicit exceptions.
If the Letter of the Holy Office assumed that implicit baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance etc were explicit exceptions to the dogma then it made an objective mistake.Since we cannot see the dead. We do not know anyone on earth, dead and saved and who are exceptions to the dogma. We cannot name anyone who is an exception to Fr.Leonard Feeney’s understanding of the dogma.
We cannot see the deceased saved, for them to be exceptions. This was the error of Cardinal Richard Cushing and the Jesuits at Boston and it is the error now of Bishop Frederick Henry.They all assume that implicit desire is an exception to the dogma.
Superficially it may appear that the baptism of desire is an exception to the dogma and many Catholics make this mistake.In the Year of the Faith we can avoid this error and affirm the traditional interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus being in accord with Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
We can have two interpretations of Vatican Council II,just as we can have two interpretations of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. One is with the visible dead on earth theory and the other without it.One interpretation is rational (without the visible dead claim) and with the hermeneutic of continuity . The other is irrational and with a break with Tradition.One affirms the dogma on salvation, the writings of St.Robert Bellarmine and the Syllabus of Errors. The other is heretical, it denies a defined dogma with ‘exceptions’, this is the one used by the bishop of Calgary.
So affirm the Faith, outside of which there is no salvation and in which all people need to enter visibly (with faith and baptism) to avoid Hell and to go to Heaven (for salvation). This is Vatican Council II without the claim of being able to see 'ghosts' in 2013. We can affirm the literal interpretation of the dogma along with implicit desire. This is possible for all Catholics, lay and religious.
Vatican Council II is in accord with the traditional teaching on other religions and ecumenism as held by the Society of St.Pius X's St.Dennis Catholic Church,Calgary.The Council is traditional.
It is unfortunate that the SSPX understands the Council only as does the Bishop of Calgary while at the same time saying that non Catholic religions are false paths to salvation.This is the confusion with the SSPX.
-Lionel Andrades.
1.
Therefore, all must be converted to Him, made known by the Church's preaching, and all must be incorporated into Him by baptism and into the Church which is His body. For Christ Himself "by stressing in express language the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5), at the same time confirmed the necessity of the Church, into which men enter by baptism, as by a door.-Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II.
2.
Now, among those things which the Church has always preached and will never cease to preach is contained also that infallible statement by which we are taught that there is no salvation outside the Church.
However, this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments that Our Savior gave for explanation those things that are contained in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the Church.- Letter of the Holy Office 1949
3.
Finally, those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God. In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh.On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator.-Lumen Gentium 16
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