Elements of Truth and Sanctification
The Catechism says that because Jesus founded the Catholic Church, He gives her the “bonds of unity” and “‘the fullness of the means of salvation’ which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession.” We talked about these three “means of salvation” in the last lesson.
Near the end of the lesson, we asked, “Do these means of salvation lose their power when separated from the others?” and “What if someone has some of these ‘means of salvation,’ but not all of them?”
In the Second Vatican Council, the Church speaks of non-Catholic Christians. This includes Orthodox Christians, Protestant Christians, and others, who quote “do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter.”
But on the other hand, in their communities, quote, “very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, … exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church.” … The Council says, “all of these [elements], which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ.”
Of non-Catholic Christians, the Council also says,
“There are many who honor Sacred Scripture, taking it as a norm of belief and a pattern of life, and who show a sincere zeal. They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, the Son of God and Savior. They are consecrated by baptism, in which they are united with Christ. They also recognize and accept other sacraments within their own … communities. Many of them [have bishops], celebrate the Holy Eucharist and cultivate devotion toward the Virgin Mother of God. They also share with us in prayer and other spiritual benefits.”
So do these means of salvation benefit those who are outside the one Church?
Sometimes, yes; sometimes, no.
Why “sometimes no”?
First: a side-point. All of the means of salvation are important, and serve the saving mission of Christ. If at all possible, we should have all of them, even if some of them are more important for salvation than others. Faith in Jesus Christ, for instance, is more central to our salvation than union with the Catholic hierarchy. But without the Catholic hierarchy (Christ’s legitimate shepherds), the unity of the One Body of Christ is compromised. This unity is indispensable because it is the Lord’s gift for His Church, one of her distinguishing characteristics. Without unity of leadership, Christians are unable to be “in full accord and of one mind,” as the scriptures call us to be. Without unity in the leadership Christ established — it is as if we have communion with God, but not communion with the people of God. But that’s a contradiction, and impossible.
Non-Catholics are missing out on the spiritual blessings that come from deeper unity with the people of God. Many non-Catholics are also deprived of immense blessings of grace through the sacraments — like the Eucharist — that the Lord gives to his Church only through validly ordained clergy.
In losing unity, the mission of the Church as the light of the world is also compromised. When Christians are not visibly united, Christian witness and the work of evangelization is harmed.
But all this side-steps our question. It only tells us that lacking certain means of salvation is harmful. But what about the means non-Catholics DO have? Why might these sometimes not benefit them? This is why: each of the means of salvation are the will of the Lord for His Church. If someone knowingly and willingly rejects one of them, it is sinful disobedience to Our Lord. Without sincere repentance, such a person is in danger of losing his salvation. The Church makes this clear when she teaches, “Whosoever … knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.” Jesus teaches this when He says to His disciples, “Whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Under these conditions, then, the means of salvation will not benefit those who are outside the Church.
But on the other hand, the means of salvation may benefit those outside the Church when these conditions do not hold. If they reject the Catholic Church and the full means of salvation innocently in ignorance, they are not guilty of rejecting them. The Church herself teaches this.
But how can this be, if – as we’ve said – salvation is communion with Jesus; and communion with Jesus is the Church; and the Church is the Catholic Church?
This is how: quote, “Men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect.”
And again:
“We can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them too He gives His gifts and graces whereby He is operative among them with His sanctifying power.” In them, as with us, is found, quote, “the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit….”
In other words, through the means of salvation found outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church, the Church is invisibly present among Christians of all kinds. Such Christians are not fully “outside the Catholic Church,” and so they may have a saving union with Jesus Christ.
It brings to my mind a Gospel passage. The disciples tell the Lord that they saw a man casting out demons in his name, saying “‘We tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.’”
It also brings to mind the fact that most of us Catholics are not in perfect communion with Jesus and the Church. We may accept all the means of salvation entrusted to the Church, but we don’t make use of them as we ought to. In this way, many Orthodox, Protestants, and other Christians might put us to shame. Their faith, or devotion to the Sacred Scriptures or the Sacraments, or commitment to prayer, might be better than ours.
In fact, the Church exhorts us: “[our] exalted status [as Catholics] is to be attributed not to [our] own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If [we] fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall [we] not be saved but [we] will be the more severely judged.”
As Our Lord taught, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.”
In the next lesson, we will consider the role of the Church in the salvation of non-Christians.