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Show i QUESTION BOX ANSWERS 1 I By Rev. Bertrand L. Conway, Paulist t c ' j 1 : j The Charge of Intolerance. ' Do you believe that sincere Pro- i testa nts will he damneci? Wliero do pood Protestants go after death? c Does the Roman church claim v the monopoly of salvation? ' c Do you believe that all Catholics 1 po to heaven, and all Piotestants to hell? Do you honestly think all pagans are doomed to eternal hell fire? 5 Does not your catechism, teach that "outside of the church there ' is no salvation"? Is this not an intolerable doctrine? ? The Catholic church teaches that no I 1 v cue pocs to hell, unless he has freely 3 m.d deliberately turned his back on f Cod. and died guilty of mortal sin. The t jixiom, "Outside of the church there is j 10 salvation," is a technical expression, r te be understood only in the sense that ! I "alhulic theologian have ever put c npoii jt. non-Cat hoiic once said to ine: "You cannot' explain that away. i I r the words are loo plain. They a ;:dmit of but one meaning:, viz: the s v holesale damnation of all ihat are not I a members of your church." And yet, on 1 f further questioning, ne admitted that i a constitutional lawyer ou?ht to be c authority on the meaning of a clause f ir. the constitution ratlur than an i- t iiorani voter who could not explain 1 vhy he was a Republican rather than c a. Democrat. According; to his argu- t :ne!it, the axiom of English law, "The t king can do no wrong," would imply f that King Edward VII was confirmed t j;i grace, rather than the fact of his f 1 ut being amenable to any court in I l.'ngland. c The Catholic church has always be- c heved that men outside of her fold 1 might live in error and still be saved; that men outside of her visible organization organi-zation through invincible ignorance 1 might still be in the soul of the church. by a true spiritual communion of faith f and charity ;that every anathema or 1 condemnation by the church relates to trror itself or false principles contrary f to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and docs not concern the interior guilt of men 1 nr women in error; that no Catholic has a right to judge the guilt of any 1 individual. Fius IX, writing on this matter, f-ays: "Far be it from us to dare set hounds to the boundless mercy of God; far be it from us to desire to search f i.5to the depths of the hidden counsels ' nd judgments of God, an abyss that the mind of man cannot explore. AVe must hold as of faith, that out of J the apostolic Roman church there is 1 j;o salvation; that she is the only ark ' of safety, and whosoever is not in her 1 perishes in the deluge, we must also, ' on the other hand,, recognize with eer- ' tainty that thos? who ai ; in invincible ' Ignorance of the true religion are not i ,uilty for this in the eye of the Lord. And who will presume to mark out the 5 1 mits of this ignorance according to the character and Jlve'v- of peoples, countries, minds, and ' .'st?" (AI- Jncution, Dec. 9, 1854' X, igain he ' v-rltes: "It is known t. rs a id to you that those who ae In ""i-'" ible terno- 1. ' lance of our most ho'. igion. but v ho observe carefully the natural -law Mid the precepts gravea by God upon the hearts of all men, and who being c'isposfd to obey God lead an honest nnd upright life. may. aid"d by the light of divine grace, atiain to eternal life; for God. who see clearly, searches and knows the heart, the disposition, the thoughts and intentions of each, in bis supreme mercy and goodness by no 1 means permits that any one suffer eternal punishment who has not of his wn free will fallen into sin." Ency- lieal to the Italian bishops, Aug. 10, 1S63.) AYp see. therefore, that the plain leaching of the Catholic church is "He who is outside the one visible church f Christ by his own fault cannot be s.Tved." Thus a man convinced that the Catholic church is the one kingdom king-dom of God established on earth for ihe salvation of men. and yet refusing to belong to her communion because it means loss -of social or political position, posi-tion, of money, of frienus, rebels wil- 1 1 fully against his conscience, gravely insults in-sults Christ, and is guilty of grievous en. Again a man who gravely doubts about his own belief and refuses to : tudy the Catholic claim, sins against the light. How absurd to think that we believe ill Catholics are to be saved by the vry fact of their being Catholics, when the Council of Trent teaches expressly gainst Luther that no one can ever be absolutely certain of salvation. (Sess. i., de Just., c.an. 15.) With regard to pagans, it is the teaching of the church that God sincerely sin-cerely wills all men to be saved, and that he gives sufficient grace to all men, pagan or Christian, for salvation. It follows, therefore, logically, no pagan pa-gan is lost except by his own fault. It is an old axiom of the schools, "God will not refuse his gra.ee ty an man that does the best he can" (what lies in his power) (Du Blanchy, "Exera Ecclesiam non est salus"; Herten-1 Herten-1 other. "Church and State," vol. xvii, par. 3). I Intelligent non-Catholics recognize clearly the true sense of this formula, and the boundless charity and hatred of intolerance that marks the spirit of the Catholic church. Mallock writes: "There is no point, probably, connected with this question, about which the general world is so misinformed and ignorant as the sober but bounu.ess charity of what is called the anathematizing anathe-matizing church. So little indeed is this charity understood generally, that to assert it seems a startling paradox. . . . It is the simple statement of a fact. Never was there a religious body, except the Roman, that. laid the intense stress sbe. does., on all her dogmatic teachings, and' had, yet (he justice that-comes that-comes of sympathy for those that can-' not receive them. . . . The holy and humble men of heart who dj not know her., or who in good faith reject her, she commits with "confidence to' God's uncovenanted mercies; and these she I knows are infinite. . . .rThe anathemas ana-themas are on none but those who reject re-ject her with their eyes open, by tampering tam-pering with a conviction that she reaKy is the truth. These" are condemned, not for. not seeing that the teacher is true, but because, having really seen this, they continue to close their eyes to it. They will not obey when they know they ought to obey"' ("Is -ife Worth Living?" ch. xl, 283-283). A Catholic could not state the doctrine more clearly. If I can be saved outside the Catholic Cath-olic church, what is the use of my joining join-ing it? .. . , One might as well ask: If I can swim across the Hudson river, why should I pay 3 cents to ride in a ferryboat? ferry-boat? Jesus Christ was a divine teacher, who commanded us to believe a)l his teachings under penalty of damnation, and a divine organizer who commanded us to join his society, the Catholic church. "He that believeth not sfliall be condemned" (Mark xvi. 16); "Teaching "Teach-ing all things" (Matt, xxviii. 20); "If he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen or publican" (Matt, xviii, 17). The Catholic church alone preaches the entire gospel, and in her inner and outer life is the ordinary ordi-nary way of salvation God gave to men. As a non-Catholic, therefore, you are, even if ' inculpably outside the church, deprived of much of God's revelation, and many of his helps for salvation: v. g., Penance," the Eucharibt, the Sacrifice Sacri-fice of the Mass. Again, if God's grace urge you to join his true church, and you hesitate-about hesitate-about studying her claims because you j dread the opposition 'of relatives and friends, the anxiety and worry of protracted pro-tracted study, the loss of political or social position, the burden of new obligations obli-gations like obligatory Sunday- mass or confession there is no possibility of your salvation, because you are false to conscience. How many a doubting doubt-ing soul, utterly unable to swear on the gospel that their sect is. the one true church of Christ, and unwilling to die for that belief, yet refuses to do away with his doubts by study and prayer.. We cannot remain indifferent to our eternal "welfare without forfeiting forfeit-ing the friendship of God. |