Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Fr.Gerald O’Collins S.J omits the all important text in Ad Gentes which supports the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus :Kurt Koch needs to clarify the SSPX position

Ad Gentes on Other Religions

Chapter:
(p.109) Five Ad Gentes on Other Religions
Source:
The Second Vatican Council on Other Religions
Author(s):

Gerald O’Collins S.J.

Publisher:
Oxford University Press

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672592.003.0005

This chapter examines Vatican II’s Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity (Ad Gentes), promulgated on 7 December 1965, the last working day of the Council. Drafted in part by Yves Congar, this text retrieved the ancient theme of ‘the seeds of the Word’ hidden everywhere. It recognized that the divine self-revelation and responding human faith can take place among those who follow ‘other religions’. Christ, who is ‘secretly present’ and reveals the Father universally, is ‘the author’ of elements of ‘truth and grace’ found ‘among the nations’. Thus the divine pedagogy prepares the way for the Gospel. In the case of those who accept the Gospel, the good already ‘sown in their hearts and minds’ is ‘healed, elevated, and consummated’. Ad Gentes points to Hebrews 11 and its account of faith, which can be happily applied to the followers of other religions. The chapter ends by developing and applying the vision of faith found in Hebrews.
 Hebrews.http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672592.001.0001/acprof-9780199672592-chapter-5
 
Fr.Gerald O’Collins S.J omits the all important text in Ad Gentes which supports the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

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

According to Ad  Gentes 7 all non Catholics need faith and baptism for salvation.This means  Vatican Council II is saying that all Jews, Muslims and others need to enter the Church to go to Heaven and avoid Hell.Ad Gentes 7 contradicts the false interpretation of Nostra Aetate.
 
Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Vatican Council for Christian Unity and relations with the Jews needs to state that Vatican Council II says that Jews need to convert into the Church with 'faith and baptism'. He needs to clarify that Vatican Council II says Jews need to convert for salvation.
He must also agree that there is nothing in Nostra Aetate which contradicts Ad Gentes 7. Since those saved with a 'a ray of that Truth' are not known to us in 2014. So they cannot be exceptions to extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Neither are they exceptions to Ad Gentes 7 .

Fr.Gerald O Collins S.J when writing on Nostra Aetate ignores the passage from Ad Gentes 7 which indicates the followers of other religions need to convert into the Catholic Church for salvation ( to avoid Hell).
 
Vatican Council II is traditional on the subject of other religions and Christian communities.
 
So when Cardinal Kurt Koch says that the Society of  St.Pius X must accept Nostra Aetate this would be easy for the SSPX if all camps accept (1) that there are no cases known of a non Catholic saved with ' a ray of that Truth'  and (2)  Ad Gentes 7, indicates that the Jews need 'faith and baptism' to avoid Hell-fires.This is Vatican Council II and not the views of a traditionalist who does not accept Vatican Council II.

The SSPX has every right to canonical status with no questions asked since Ad Gentes 7 and Nostra Aetate agree with their traditional Catholic doctrine.
 
We see here that the Jesuit writing for the Oxford University Press has made the same mistake as Prof.Gavin D'Costa , on the website of the University of Bristol, England.The same error on Nostra Aetate is also there in the video of D'Costa on the website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. No SSPX priest in Britain has noted the factual error. The video assumes that the dead-saved with a 'ray of that Truth' in other religions are visible to us on earth, like a dead man walking in England.Then it assumes that Nostra Aetate mentions explicit exceptions of non Catholics saved with a 'ray of that Truth' etc. These are factual mistakes. We cannot see the dead and Nostra Aetate does not claim that we can see the deceased.
The Second Vatican Council on Other Religions$

Nostra Aetate on Other Religions

Chapter:
(p.84) Four Nostra Aetate on Other Religions
Source:
The Second Vatican Council on Other Religions
Author(s):

Gerald O’Collins S.J.

Publisher:
Oxford University Press

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672592.003.0004

This chapter is dedicated to the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate). Promulgated on 28 October 1965, this document not only significantly contributed to Catholic-Jewish dialogue but also created a basis for dialogue with Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and other religions. For the first time in the history of Catholic Christianity, a general council considered Buddhism and Hinduism, and encouraged Catholics to dialogue with the followers of other religions and collaborate with them in promoting ‘spiritual and moral goods’. According to Nostra Aetate, what is ‘true and holy’ in other religions reflects ‘the Truth that enlightens’ everyone. Citing the biblical teaching about all people being created in ‘the divine image’, the declaration proclaimed that divine likeness as the basis for human dignity and rights. This chapter argues that Nostra Aetate implied that the divine self-revelation in some real sense reaches Hindus, Muslims, and followers of other religions.


-Lionel Andrades

Nostra Aetate does not contradict extra ecclesiam nulla salus : doctrinal opening for the SSPX


 Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II is binding on Cardinal Kurt Koch as it is on the Society of St.Pius X(SSPX). It indicates 'all' non Catholics need 'faith and baptism' for salvation. Catholic Faith and the baptism of water are needed by the Jews, Muslims etc for salvation, according to Vatican Council II.

 
The afternoon speech followed Cardinal Koch's participation in a meeting of the doctrinal congregation to examine the latest progress in the Vatican's reconciliation talks with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.

"There are questions to clarify in discussions with this community. I can't say more than that," he told reporters, echoing a Vatican statement saying the reconciliation talks are ongoing.

In addition to the highly publicized position of Bishop Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop who denies the Holocaust, public statements by the society's superior general, Bishop Bernard Fellay, leave in doubt whether the society as a whole accepts the entirety of "Nostra Aetate," including its condemnations of anti-Semitism and of the idea that the Jews were to blame for the death of Jesus.

"All the doctrinal decisions of the church are binding on a Catholic, including the Second Vatican Council and all its texts," Cardinal Koch said when asked if the SSPX would be expected to accept all the teachings of Vatican II. "The 'Nostra Aetate' declaration of the Second Vatican Council is a clear decree and is important for every Catholic," he added.-Cardinal Kurt Koch, CNS report
 
Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II  is binding on Cardinal Kurt Koch as it is on the Society of St.Pius X(SSPX). It indicates 'all' non Catholics need 'faith and baptism' for salvation. Catholic Faith and the baptism of water are needed by the Jews, Muslims etc for salvation, according to Vatican Council II.
 
It is Cardinal Kurt Koch who is rejecting Vatican Council II when he states 'While Catholics profess that, in the end, all salvation will be accomplished through Jesus Christ, "it does not necessarily follow that the Jews are excluded from God's salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the son of God," the cardinal said. "That the Jews are participants in God's salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly is and remains an unfathomable divine mystery."
The cardinal said, "The Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed toward the Jews," but that does not exclude Christians bearing witness to their faith "in an unassuming and humble manner."  Cardinal Koch did not say that Vatican Council II says Jews need to convert.Nostra Aetate 3 also states that Catholics are the new people of God. The Jews were the Chosen People. Now it is the Catholics who have the Messiah and the Eternal Covenant. They are the Chosen People.
 
The SSPX  has a right to canonical status since Vatican Council II (AG 7) supports the SSPX's traditional Catholic positon on salvation and other religions. While Nostra Aetate 2 , a 'ray of that Truth' does not contradict Ad Gentes 7 or the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Ad Gentes 7 is also a contradiction of the wild  interpretations of  Nostra Aetate which are there on the Internet.
-Lionel Andrades
 __________________________________________________

May 7, 2014

Nostra Aetate does not say that Non Catholics do not need to convert into the Catholoic Church - Fr.John Hunwicke http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.it/2014/01/nostra-aetate-1.html 

May 6, 2014
Rorate Caeili,Cardinal Brandmuller,SSPX same error on Nostra Aetate : traditionalists cannot correct University of Bristol

A New Blow Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata --- Pilgrimage Church Refused Them


(Rome), a new blow by the Commission set upon the Franciscans of the Immaculate by the Congregation for Religious. The lay association Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) was denied the Marian Sanctuary of Pompeii. Since the year 2004, MM brought believers together to take a pilgrimage from Naples and Campania to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, the most famous Marian shrine in this part of southern Italy. Yesterday, on Divine Mercy Sunday, however, the faithful were denied access to the holy image

Prohibition of Commissar Volpi Led Prelate of Pompeii to Ban

On 10 April, when everything was already organized, the faithful were informed by the rector of the Basilica, Monsignor Salvatore Acampora, the use and access ban without notice. Pilgrimage, Holy Mass, Rosary and Marian songs had to be canceled. On request of the disappointed believers, Msgr Acampora declared the following day that the Church has the status of a Pontifical Basilica Cathedral and was erected as a Territorial Prelature in 1926. So it stands under papal law, which is why the responsible Prelate and Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine, Titular Archbishop Tommaso Caputo currently could not ignore the measures of the Apostolic Commissar of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Fr Fidenzio Volpi.

"Tell us What We Have Done Wrong?"

Commissioner Volpi had in the course of the destruction of the Franciscan Order, which the Congregation of Religious calls "normalization", forbid on 27 November, 2013, the ecclesiastically recognized lay association from any activity. "A radical intervention, which took place without any justification. Tell us what we've done wrong: If it is a sin, an act against the Gospel or a violation of canon law" demanded Claudio Circelli, one of MIM leaders of Naples, for the last ten years, who organized the annual pilgrimage to the Queen of the Rosary.

Unfounded Prohibitions: "So They Don't Apply to Believers"

The ban on the pilgrimage's access at the basilica of Pompeii can be justified formally, with the activity ban on the MIM. "A ban in reference to the unjustified ban of the Commissioner, and one washes the other's hands. That's arbitrariness. So it doesn't apply to the faithful," wrote the newspaper which quoted Il Mattino di Napoli, an indignant member of the MIM. In fact, a Commissioner Volpi has not justified that the prohibition will result in further bans after themselves without ever explaining in order to punish the lay organization.

Old Mass, Promoting Tradition, Criticism of the Second Vatican Council - For Some Unbearable

The provisional administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was arranged by the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João de Aviz Cardinal Bráz in July 2013. A step that also took place with the express approval of Pope Francis in a form that the Order took every opportunity to appeal.
The crackdown is connected with that of the hitherto flourishing religious order under Benedict XVI. which changed internally to the old rite and intellectually took a very active part in the debate initiated by the German theologian Pope on the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. It undertook a defense of Catholic tradition against modernist tendencies in the Church and especially in the training of theologians and priests, which to some was unbearable in the Church, but under Benedict XVI. they could not take action against the Order. However, due to the pontificate change to Pope Francis, they were active immediately and with the utmost severity against the Order. The arbitrary act against the Order has overshadowed the current pontificate.

MIM - Marian and Missionary

The MIM was established in 1990 by the founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in 2013, the deposed Superior General Father Stefano Maria Manelli in the Marian shrine of Loreto. The MIM align themselves with lay people who try to live in their respective state of the charism of the Order. They vow to be Marian and missionary and to promote the devotion to Mary and to promote the mission ad gentes, particularly "where the struggle for the salvation of souls and the edification of the Church is particularly fierce."
 
 

Nostra Aetate does not say that Non Catholics do not need to convert into the Catholic Church - Fr.John Hunwicke

Fr John Hunwicke
 
Nostra Aetate (1) by Fr.John Hunwicke
 

Since the Council, an idea has been spreading that Judaism is not superseded by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ; that Jews still have available to them the Covenant of the old Law, by which they can be saved. It is therefore unnecessary for them to turn to Christ; unnecessary for anybody to convert them to faith in Christ. Indeed, attempting to do so is an act of aggression not dissimilar to the attempt of Nazi Germany to exterminate that people. This is sometimes called the Two Covenant Theory.

This view is widespread among non-Catholic 'Ecumenists', and is increasingly taken for granted even within the Church by the professional 'Ecumenism' industry. It is suggested that this doctrine is mandated by the Council. And, underlying, reinforcing it, is the guilt felt by many in Western Society about the Shoah; and the determination of Zionists and their sponsors to characterise anybody who dissents from this growing consensus as 'Anti-Semitic'. I had better say at once that my father served in two wars, the second fought against Nazism; that I was all of four years old when Hitler died; and I am dashed if I am going to be made to feel guilty for what Hitler did to the Jews and nervously rewrite my own beliefs so as not to offend them. Any more than I would consider it appropriate for the intellectuals of Tel a Viv to regard themselves as obliged to feel personally guilty for what the Turks did to the Armenians.

The Conciliar Decree Nostra aetate is central here, and is commonly cited as evidence that the Catholic Church now imposes the new consensus upon all Catholics; that anybody who attempts to evade this must be a holocaust-denier or even a crypto-lefebvreist (Lefebvre's father, incidentally, died in a German concentration camp). A reading of the relevant sections of this document soon reveals that it does not come within a million miles of suggesting that the Jews are the only people who do not need Christ; or that the Jews are the only people to whom the Gospel should not be offered. It speaks with admirable force against anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination; it rightly demands that the Jews should not be regarded as uniquely responsible for the killing of God Incarnate. (It does not say that the Jews are the only race who should not feel guilty that their sins caused the death of Christ.)

Two phrases in Nostra aetate might lead someone to suppose the novel dogma to be intended. The Jews, the Council says, should not be presented as 'reprobati' or 'maledicti'; rejected or cursed. Indeed, they should not. This phrase simply puts the Jews in the same position as every other race. They have "sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" ... just as each and every other race and every individual has done. But God has not placed them under some unique condemnation, any more than he has, say, the French or the Hottentots. They do not have some particular curse put upon them, any more than Chinese or Americans do. God's mercy is as available to them as it is to French, Hottentots, Chinese, and Americans; and on the same light and gracious terms. The paragraph concerned (4) needs to be read through to its end, which is a glorious passage about the all-embracing love of Christ, his death for all, the duty of Christians to preach the cross as Mercy for all. The Council Fathers make no suggestion that this applies to every human being, to every human grouping ... except to the Jews.
The other passage is Romans 11:28-29, a passage also cited in Lumen Gentium, which I plan to discuss in the context of the teaching of S Paul.

I think it is worth adding pro tanto that, in Tissier de Mallerais' biography of Archbishop Lefebvre, I have not found any suggestion that the Archbishop had any problems with Nostra aetate ... as he did with Dignitatis humanae, the document on Religious Liberty. Had the Council really reversed 1900 years of Christian doctrine about the status of Judaism, it is hard to believe that its critics in the SSPX and elsewhere would have failed to spot it and noisily to denounce such a radical doctrinal change.

Continues.