The sun., 1898-01-09
THE QUESTION OF SALVATION
The Distinction Between the =. BODY " ana tho
"soui" OF the Catholic Church.

The Distinction Between the Body ~ ana tho
"soui" or the Catholic Church.
To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN-Sir: Your cor.
respondent Of to-day. J. b. r., is apparently un.
able to detect the difference between o theo-
logical distinction and a sophism. From having
failed to grasp the drift Of my letters he is un-
der the impression that have denied tho truth
Of the maxim. "Outside the Church no saliva
tion," whereas only deny the narrow interpre-
tation Of it. II he will peruse my letter of Dec
20 and the able letter Of F. A. f. on the 4th nst
he will see that the maxim Is fully maintained
in both. but that 1t refers to the "soul" of tho
Church.
am not t'aware of any Papal bull which denies
that grace can be obtained outside the visible
unity Of the Church; perhaps J. #. r. can en-
tighten me. The learned Jesuit Deharbe evil
IDENTIFY shares my ignorance on this point, for in
his catechism. quoted In my last letter, in note
to Q. 90. he says that "those who are heretics
without their own fault are deprived, though
not of all. at least of many graces and blessings
of our holy religion" Again. If grace cannot be
obtained outside the body of the Church-I say
body of the Church. for evidently this is j. f. RS
acceptation Of the word "Church "-how is 1t
that she herself recognizes as valid baptism ad.
miuistered by Protestants. provided tho proper
The oatecSsm nap approved BY tSe Council of
Baltimore and taught In the parochial schools
has the following question and answer lcat. No.
Q.--Are all bound to belong to the Church? A.-An
are ooInd % 90 Seons m e 70 'se and he who
out Of 1t cannot be saveo.
=, In other words. he who pertinaciously rejects
the Church's teaching win be lost, 1t may be
schools. and possibly he may have become
rusty" In his catechism:
more good service In making conversions from
Proteetantism than any other OF its kind In the
language has been translated into Italian, Ger
man and French, and has received the unquali-
fed appreciation Of tho most eminent digritarios
Of the hisrarehies q England France. Italy,
"Cathollo Belief" by the Very Rev. DR.. Faa di
Bruno. p. 8. NJ. In the American edition. on
page $50. he says:
baptized, who lead good life, love God and their
OF hs s ss Of as @
s called esas H. gGSd fh are sI
G Ons aoS in three aiyiDs that M viii % dss
n reward the good and punish the wicked that Jesu:
o9 our o
yded they thoroughly repent of having by their
Catho los hold that Protestants who have these dis
positions and who have NO suspicion of their 70.
their honest endsavors to disoyer the true religion.
%Sus % In thu
igion u they knew Il to be the true one are CAtho
Church without themselves Knowing 1t. she holds
that these Christians belong to and united to the
though they not united to Visible body OF tho
Church " external communion with her and by
ward profeaAi0n OF her faith.
There 10 q footnote to page 23O which states
that even - believer In God who, without any
fault @ on A his part, does not know and believe
Notwithstanding. in q state of salvation, accord.
ing to the opinion of most Catholic theologians."
/ fear to take up too much OF your valuable
space. therefore leave 1t to the Judgment OF
any eminent theologian as to whether i am
stating the true teaching OF tho Church on this
important subject. or am guilty Of sophistry.
ALEX HENDERSON. p. g. NJ.
MOUNT CARMEL CHURCH. East 10th street.
Jan. z.