The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-12-11
SALVATION OUTSIDE THE
CHURCH.

Our Divine Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ, instituted a Church which was
to continue and extend the work OF
Redemption, which He had begun,
says the Brooklyn tablet To it
He entrusted the preaching and teach
ing of revealed truth; the sanctifying
of all men; the ruling and directing
of mankind. Going, therefore, teach
all nations, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever l have COM
manded you," was the divine commits
sion the Church received from it's God
founder. And He imposed a CORE
spending obligation to hear and obey
upon all to whom the Church should
propose the message of salvation, He
who believes and is baptized shall be
saved: he who does not believe shall
be condemned" Submission to the
teaching of Gods representative upon
earth is made requisite for saliva
ton and it is not discretionary with
man to accept or reject it. 1t is evil
dent, then, that salvation is impossi-
BILE to one who knows the Catholic
Church to be the true Church and
nevertheless, for any reason, refuses
to submit to it.
But what shall we say of the many
who are ignorant Of their obligation
to hear and obey the voice of the one,
true Church which Christ founded?
Do we say that these are already lost
with no possibility of salvation? To
answer this question we must clearly
understand the meaning of the word,
| ignorance. We must remember that
anything save that which he know
ingly and deliberately does or Omits.
There are thousands who, through no
! fault of their own, have never so much
as heard of the Church of Christ.
| They are ignorant of it's existence and,
supposing that their ignorance is in
vincible, j. e., that ii isapraeticalIy i'm
possible for them to attain sufficient
knowledge of the Church, they will
not be deprived of salvation because
of this inculpable ignorance. There
are many who know of the Churchs
existence, but who, through bias or
prejudice, which they have imbibed
with their mothers milk, are unable
to judge impartially in questions of
religion. If they are honest and sim
cere in their belief that they are pro-
Tossing and practicing the religious
belief which Christ would have them
believe and practice; if they are not
disturbed by any doubts concerning
the legitimacy of the church to which
they belong; in word, if they are
Professionals, in good faith, their saliva
ton will be determined by their lives
rather than by their belief God will
not condemn one who conscientiously
adheres to religion which he firmly
believes to be the true religion. Ignor-
ance which is inculpable, ignorance
which is honest and sincere, and only
such ignorance, excuses one from &C.
knowledging the one, true Church of
Christ.
So much we may say in theory.
When we are called upon to determine
the religious status of any particular
| individual outside the Catholic
Church, we find it difficult to speak
decisively and Dramatically. There
are SO many diverse influences affect
ing mans belief. Mere intellectual
conviction of the truth of our Faith is
not sufficient. A mans natural pride,
obstinacy and inclination to Temporal
riZe must all be considered In nearly
all cases of conversion, the convert
evinces timidity in giving up his old
belief for a new one. Even after he
becomes, apparently, persuaded of his
obligation to embrace Catholicity, he
finds great difficulty in making the
final step. There is, indeed, more in
the human makeup than in the hui
man mind. 1t is the will to believe,
the personal will of the Individual aid
ed and abetted by divine grace, that is
absolutely necessary for the perfec-
ton of conversion.
! We should be slow, therefore, to
| give wider meaning to the dictum,
! Outside the Church there is no sal
vation," than the Church has ever in
tended it should have. There are I'M
doubtedly many non-C Catholics who
viii be saved through their inculpable
ignorance, provided that they follow,
honestly and securely, the dictates of
conscience. If they are never dis
turbed by doubt or uncertainty regard
ing the truth of their religious belief;
if they never havea suspicion that the
Catholic Church may be the one ex-
clusively authorized religion instituted
by Christ, they will not be lost be-
cause of their inability to perceive the
untenability of their position.
On the other hand, we must remem-
Der that Christ enjoined upon all men
the obligation to work out their saliva.
ton as members of the one, true
Church He founded. No one can ex-
cuse himself from fulfilling this obliga-
ton on the plea that one religion is as
good as another; that one should pro-
TESS the religion in. which he CHANGED
| to be. born or under. any one of the
many speeious. pretexts which we hear.
so frequently from those who are, or
pretend to be, Indifferent to any par
lticular creed. The man who is in the