The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-12-13
POPULAR APOLOGET TICS
Adapted From the German of Rev.
Peter Mikes, S. j., BY Rev.
James Watcher.
The Only Saving Church

Objection: According to the SEN
tef1ce: Extra Ecciesiam nulla salus
Outside the Church there is no saliva
tion1 the millions of Greek Catholics
i all we Evanaelicas would be
damned, though we believe in the cru
Gifted and risen Christ (Tschackert,
PoIemik, p. 22)
Answer: l. No, certainly not. All
those who without their fault (bona
fide) are in error and live according to
their conscience, will be saved. They
belong. though not outwardly, but III
wardly, to the true Church Of Christ,
that is. to her soul, though not to her
body. Tschackert himself has to ac-
knowledge that this is the doctrine of
the Church and thus refutes his own
objection. He writes: THUS bap-
tized non-Catholics, the Roman the
olOgy teaches, who have never learned
the Catholic truth and only on that
account, hence not from bad will, but
by inyincible ignorance remain in
their non-Catholic faith, err material
ly, but do not err as formal heretics,-
may be saved q. C. p. 22) Quite
correct. but then why this objection?
= But who ever through his own
grieyous fault remains outside the true
Church, founded by Christ, for to her
alone He has given the means of sal
walton and to join her He has hidden
all men, he commits grievous sin
against God, and if he perseveres
therein, he will be damned. He that
beleveth not, shall be condemned
MARK 1910. And: Without faith
it is impossible to please God (Heb
11:6). That this means the true faith
is self-evident, for false faith cannot
please God, the eternal Truth. To re-
iect the known truth can not possibly
lie the way TO heaven. Whether and
when there is such fault, only the
all-knowing God can decide.
5. The Catholic Church is in reality
more lenient in this matter than Prot
estants.
Luther says in his Big Catechism
(Mueller, Symbolische Buecher, p.
260): Whoever is outside Christian
false Christians and hypocrites, even
though they believe in and adore only
one tque God, they do not know that
His mind is against them, hence they
cannot have any love or good towards
Him, and therefore they remain in the
everlasting anger AID condemnation
Tschackert agrees with this when he
III; 11 1,D1I
that outside the Church there is no
salvation: but with us this means
something different than with Catholi-
cism; that outside of Christianity,
where the Gospel is not, there is no
forgiveness, as also there can be no
salvation, Luther teaches correctly
IL. C. p. 25)
According to this all heathens, Jews,
Mohammedans, in fact all non-Chris-
tians, will be damned, also those who
without any fault OF theirs are in er-
ror, no matter how piously they may
live.
The true Church does not teach
thus; she knows we'll that the attain
ment Of everlasting salvation is i'm
possible without the grace merited for
us by Christ, but also that God with
His grace "enlightens every man who
comes into this world" John 1:9),
and that the poorest heather, who
does all in his power, can become par
taker of the grace of Christ in an eX-
traordinary manner
Of &c, to
join the Catholic Church, to which
alone Christ has given the means of
grace; but for the one who errs with
out any fault there are extraordinary
ways Besides the baptism of water
there is the baptism of blood (mar-
tyrdom of heathens who confess
Christi and the baptism of desire that
is, the perfect love Of God, which in
cludes the will to do all that God wills
as soon as one knows it, In this act
of love is included, knowingly or I'M
knowingly, the desire of baptism.
He that cometh to God, must be-
lieve that He is, and is rewarder to
them that seek Him" Heb. 11:6).
That is the least measure for saliva
ton, and this can be attained, by
Gods providence, by the heather who
is of good will, either through the orig
inal revelation, which is preserved
among the heathens and which points
to the Savior, or in some other way.
ST. Thomas says that God will take
care of the upright heather even if
He would have to send an angel from
heaven.