The Church and Salvation
by Fr. William G. Most
From the fact that the Church is God's means of giving grace, is it is clear that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. This truth has even been defined by the Church more than once, e.g., in the Council of Florence in 1442.
Lionel :
The Council of Florence does not mention any exceptions. No Church document before 1949 says there are exceptions to the dogma. Fr.William Most like the EWTN /National Catholic Register(NCR) speakers and staff writers assume there are exceptions.This would be irrational.
However we must take care to understand this teaching the way the Church understands it. We just saw that the Church claims the exclusive authority to interpret both Scripture and Tradition.
Lionel:
And Fr.Willam Most goes ahead and in the name of the Church, infers there are known exceptions to the dogma. How can the baptism of desire etc, refer to a known exception to the interpretation of Fr.Leonard Feeney when these cases would be in Heaven and would be invisible for us ? This is the irrational position of the NCR editorial policy.
So one like Leonard Feeney who interprets the teaching on the necessity of the Church his own way is not acting like a Catholic theologian at all. The Holy Office, on August 8, 1949, declared that L. Feeney was guilty of this error.
Lionel:
He was guilty of not inferring that the dead-saved with the baptism of desire etc are explicit exceptions to the Council of Florence ? !!Is this rational for EWTN/NCR ?
Pius IX (Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863) taught: "God... in His supreme goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be punished with eternal punishments who does not have the guilt of voluntary fault."
Lionel:
Vatican II (Lumen gentium # 16) taught the same: "They who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation."
Lionel:
Once again, we do not know who these cases are defacto, objectively, in real life.So they are irrelevant to the interpretation of Fr.Leonard Feeney. There is no connection with the traditional interpretation of the dogma.
Pius XII had said (Mystici Corporis Christi) that one can "be related to the Church by a certain desire and wish of which he is not aware", i.e., by the desire to do what God wills in general.
Lionel:
True and he is referring to a hypothetical, invisible for us case. There is no connection with extra ecclesiam nulla salus. He is not referring to an explicit exception to the teaching according to the Council of Florence.This is an error made by the Holy Office 1949 in the Marchetti Letter. The error is repeated by Fr.William Most and EWTN/NCR.
Precisely how does this work out? We saw on our very first page that St. Paul insists (Romans 3:29) that God makes provision in some way for all. We saw that one of the earliest Fathers, St. Justin Martyr (Apology 1:46) said that some, like Socrates could even be Christians because they followed the divine Word. Now St. Justin also said that the Divine Word is in the hearts of all. Then we notice in St. Paul's Romans 2:14-16 that "The gentiles who do not have the law [revealed religion] do by nature the things of the law; they show the work of the law written on their hearts." And according to their response, they will or will not be saved.
Lionel:
The Council of Florence says clearly that every one needs to enter the Church for salvation. Every one needs to be a formal member of the Church to avoid Hell.
Clearly, it is this Divine Word, or the Spirit of Christ, the Divine Word, that writes the law on their hearts, i.e., makes known to them what they should do. If they follow that, although they do not know that that is what they are following, yet objectively, they do follow the Logos, the divine Word. And so St. Justin was right in calling them Christians. We can add that St. Paul in Romans 8:9 makes clear that if one has and follows the Spirit of Christ, he "belongs to Christ."
Lionel:
He is referring to an invisible case and assumes it is visible for us. Then he infers that it is an exception to the Council of Florence and Fr.Leonard Feeney. First he uses an irrational premise and then he comes to an irrational conclusion which rejects the dogma.
But, to belong to Christ is the same as being a member of Christ, and that is the same as being a member of the Church. Not indeed by formal adherence, but yet substantially, enough to satisfy the requirement of substantial membership. Indeed, Vatican II even wrote (LG # 49): "All who belong to Christ, having His Spirit, coalesce into one Church."
Lionel:
And this is not an exception to all needing the baptism of water in 2015 for salvation. It is not an exception to the interpretation of Fr.Leonard Feeney and the St.Benedict Center in 1949.
So, St. Paul was right: God does take care of them; St. Justin was right too: they can be Christians without knowing it. Otherwise, God would be sending millions upon millions to hell without giving them any chance at all, if they lived far from places where the Church was known, e.g., in the western hemisphere before 1492.
Lionel:
This is suggested by the Council of Florence.Millions are on the way to Hell.
Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7) says 'all' need 'faith and baptism' for salvation. Most people in 2015 die without Catholic faith and the baptism of water.
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