By Bob Sullivan
In my last article, Part 1, I tried to explain in layman’s terms that anyone who finds salvation does so through Christ and his Church and that this is true even for those who, through no fault of their own, have not arrived at an explicit knowledge of God or the Gospel.
I also tried to show that when one does not have the fullness of the means of salvation that the Catholic Church offers, this is not a good situation and salvation would depend on, among other things, invincible ignorance. Invincible ignorance is not to be confused with willful, lazy, or vincible ignorance. Invincible ignorance means that a person is not responsible and culpable for his or her ignorance, that is, he or she could not have known otherwise. Vincible ignorance, on the other hand, is ignorance that one is responsible and culpable for, that is, he or she should have and could have known.
Invincible ignorance is real, but in my experience, willful, lazy, and vincible ignorance, seems to be exceedingly common. For example, I think of people who drift off into daydreaming when the truth is offered or those who try to explain the truth away or who put great effort toward misunderstanding it. In fact, I have met many people who reject some or all of the teachings of Christ, and who also adopt numerous non-Christian teachings such as those found in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, secularism, even Satanism. Such a person often regards Christ as a wise teacher or influential historical figure, but not as the Son of God. Invincible ignorance? I obviously leave that to God. But I can say that in some cases these things seem to be the heresy of indifferentism or universalism, and/or the result of a lukewarm faith.
If such a person has lived in a civilized nation, this is often (but not always) the result of his or her parents’ failure to hand down the Christian faith to their child. Sometimes it may be due to some sort of trauma or loss in a young Christian’s life. Other times it may be due to youthful rebellion which is often seized upon by others who are skeptical, agnostic, or atheist.
The Catholic Church membership is quite full of people who are lukewarm and/or indifferent. This is obvious by looking at the number of Catholics who attend Mass on Sunday. On any given Sunday—prior to the pandemic—there were somewhere around 25% of Catholics at Mass, nationwide. This means that on any given Sunday, more than 56 million U.S. Catholics are not attending Mass on Sunday. God has an interesting thing to say about a lukewarm faith: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)
Many non-Catholic Christians are also engaged in the heresies of indifferentism and universalism. They may believe in the Trinity, but they sometimes adopt non-Christian beliefs from other non-Christian world religions, and this is sometimes encouraged or condoned by their pastors and elders.
However, as Christians (Catholic and non-Catholic), a fundamental belief is that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6). Therefore, we need to practice what we preach and avoid slipping into heresy, lukewarmness, and confusion. The best way to remain part of the Body of Christ, is to turn to the Church, which is God’s “Plan A” for our salvation.
Why would anyone knowingly decline God’s “Plan A”? In fact, if someone did know that Jesus established the Catholic Church and made it necessary for salvation (“Plan A”), and yet willfully declined it, that person couldn’t find salvation. We all make poor decisions from time to time.
Many historical figures have made very poor decisions. These include Adam and Eve, Cain, Lot’s daughters, Ham, King David, Jan Hus, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, John Calvin, Theodore McCarrick, and every other human other than our Blessed Mother. So, none of us is immune to stepping outside the Church. However, good information can lead to good decisions. The best source on eternal salvation is the Church, through which we have the Bible.
If you receive eternal salvation at the moment of your death, it will not be because of Confucius, Muhammad, Paramahansa Yogananda, Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, or even St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It will only be because of Jesus Christ. And unlike all these others, it was Jesus Christ who not only established one Church, He also gave his life for us and His Church in an excruciating way, and then rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.
Christ said there is one flock, one Shepherd, and one way to Heaven. The Church is merely saying what Jesus said before the Church (now the Body of Christ) was established.
That being said, there likely have been, and will be, members of the Catholic Church who have not and will not receive eternal salvation. So simply being in the Church is not the goal. Being Catholic is not a “get into Heaven free” card. And being a non-Catholic is not an automatic exclusion from Heaven. The goal is eternal salvation and God obviously wants us to take full advantage of every tool He gives us to receive eternal salvation. All those tools are made available to us through the Catholic Church.
Anyone (Catholic or not) who receives eternal salvation receives it because of Jesus Christ and the Church He established. This is why we say that “outside the Church, there is no salvation,” and it is also why we do not say that only Catholics go to Heaven.
