Finally a Catholic who is Not Afraid to Condemn Me?
Well, not me necessarily, but all Protestants. We Protestants really never know whether we are in or out with the Catholic Church. At one council it seems that we are damned to the fires of hell, and then, at another, we are “brethren,” separated, yet real brethren!
This all comes down to how the Catholic church is going to define their dogmatized phrase “outside the church [Roman Catholic Church] there is no salvation.” While Protestants often get blasted for our inability to agree on certain doctrines (rightly so in many cases), there is no less division among Catholics about what it means to be “outside the Church.”
Folks, I would like to know. My eternal life hangs in the balance.
On a more serious side-note, this does hamper Protestant/Catholic relations when it is believed that any non-Catholic is necessarily damned to hell (that is if they truly die a non-Catholic—more on this in a moment).
So, what do Catholics say? Continue Reading »
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Tony Amodeo on 18 Sep 2008 at 1:00 pm #
Hi, Michael.
It might be time for you to look at some documents from Vatican II, and talk to some knowledgeable Catholics (which I don’t claim to be). I was raised in a Catholic household, and attended Catholic grammar and high schools, Catholic (and state) colleges and universities. I haven’t heard that old saw about “Protestants going to hell” since one European nun said it in the early 1950s — except, of course, for folks like Mel Gibson, who are stuck in the early 20th century with little religious understanding — leftovers from the ‘wallbuilding’ era, when all Christians stressed what divided them in their particular doctrines over the much larger central and shared core of Christianity. Triumphalism has been a sad part of all our denominations.
Not long ago, the Pope told us to look for what is from God in all religions, in and out of Christianity, and see what we could learn about faith. The Church, including the hierarchy, changes slowly, but doors and minds are opening. Please don’t assume everything you learned about Catholics is true — even if it was from an old-guard Catholic! God is bigger and more merciful than any of us, and our job is to help each other continue up the path to His presence.
Peace.