SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 16 May 1918, Page 10

SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

(By J. Harding Fisher, S.J., in America.)

No dogma of the Faith, perhaps, has been subjected to more caustic criticism by those not of the Fold than that which is enshrined in the classic saying: “Extra- ecclesiam nulla sains.” ‘‘Outside the Church there is no salvation.’’ To this doctrine, properly understood, the Church is irrevocably committed. It is laid down in Holy Scripture, it runs like a refrain through the writings of the Fathers, it is an essential part of Catholic theology, it is realised and unhesitatingly believed by the laity, learned and ignorant, it has the official sanction of Councils and Popes. Pope Pius IX., for example, in his allocution of December 9, 1854, says very clearly: “It must be held as a matter of Faith that no one can be saved outside the Apostolic Roman Church ; this is the one ark of salvation, he who does not enter it, will perish in the flood.” These words of the Holy Father, in their uncompromising honesty, are proof positive that (he doctrine in question is an article of Faith, the denial of which is heresy. The statement of the doctrine offers no difficulty. It is clear, positive, universal. A child may grasp it ; and once it is grasped, it has a tremendous power for stimulating private and corporate effort. That Christ died for all men, that God wishes all men to be saved, and that no man can be-saved outside the Church, is a trilogy of truths which has been the fountain-head of centuries of unflagging zeal, driving missionaries to every corner of the world with a restless, hungering desire to bring souls into the Church, and furnishing overpowering motives for heroic sacrifices to preserve the priceless treasure of the Faith. On its positive side the formula means that the Catholic Apostolic Church, by the institution of Christ, is the only true Church, into which— because by Divine ordinance it has supplanted all other forms of religion —- all men are commanded to enter if they would have part with Christ in time and eternity ; it means that in the Church, and in the Church alone, is to be found the ordinary way of salvation, that the Church is the custodian of Divine revelation, that she alone has a Divine commission to teach what Christ has taught and to apply to souls the fruits of redemption, and that through her flow, directly or indirectly, all the graces which, through the merits of Jesus Christ, are bestowed by God on the souls of men for their sanctification.

On its negative side the formula is in direct contradiction to the religious indifferentism which teaches that it makes no difference what one believes, provided he endeavors to lead a f>ood life it denies succinctly but emphatically the theory, so popular to-day, that creeds and dogmas are only symbols - without significance or force except in so far as they prove helpful to individual souls; and it rejects as false and pernicious the doctrine that God looks with equal favor, on all forms of worship and that He is ready to dispense His Divine blessings with equal bounty irrespective of religious affiliations,

The formula, though negative in form, is essentially constructive. The Church maintains and has always maintained that salvation comes to all who are saved through the Church a,qd in the Church. It lias

never, however, restricted the hope of salvation to those who are visible members of her communion. She does indeed exclude from the* hope of salvation those who knowingly and willingly, that is, with full knowledge of their obligation to become Catholics, remain outside her visible communion; but as for others who through no fault of their own are not, as far as outward appearances go, members of her communion, she freely admits that they may possess the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and be friends of God. Such souls she leaves to their Creator, knowing that His mercy is above all His works, and that, appearances notwithstanding, He may have united them, for all she knows, by invisible bonds to His mystical body, that is, to the Catholic Church. No one is lost, of this we are certain, except through his own fault. If men are saved, it is certain that they have belonged to the Church ; if they are excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven because they have not belonged to the Church, the responsibility for their not belonging to it, and consequently for their exclusion from Heaven, rests with themselves. In theory this principle is perfectly plain. Its application, also, is clear in the case of those who knowing the Church for the one ark of salvation, nevertheless wilfully and deliberately refuse to obey Christ’s command to enter it ; in the words of Pope Pius IX., they “will perish in the flood.” But the application of the doctrine to those who are ignorant of the fact that the Church is the one ark of salvation is not always easy ; it depends on whether that ignorance is culpable or inculpable. That such ignorance may be blameless is obvious from .the words of the Pope, who, after insisting on the necessity of belonging to the Church, goes on to say; “Nevertheless we must likewise hold it for certain that in the eyes of the Lord no blame for their ignorance attaches to those who do not know the true religion, provided their ignorance is invincible.’’

There is, then, an ignorance of the true religion, which is invincible, that is, an ignorance which the person concerned has had no opportunity to overcome, or which persists after reasonable efforts have been made by him to overcome it. The Holy Father warns Catholics not to presume to set limits to this invincible ignorance, but rather to leave its determination to God, to the Divine mercy and justice, content in the meantime to await the fulness of knowledge that will come with the beatific vision for the understanding of how close and beautiful is the connection between the Divine mercy and justice. For Catholics, during the period of their mortal existence, it is sufficient, in the words of the Supreme Pontiff, to “hold-firmly to the Catholic doctrine that there is one God, one faith, one baptism; to push our inquiries further were wrong.” The Catholic’s part, therefore, is to abstain from passing judgment on any particular case. Yfet he is often asked to give a reason for the faith that is in him and to explain the Church’s attitude on (his much misunderstood dogma. Undoubtedly many who do not joy visible communion with the Church are saved; in some way or other therefore these must belong to the Church. They must be in invisible communion with it. And it is not only not blameworthy but commendable for Catholics to endeavor to get clear notions as to how this invisible communion is possible and what is its nature. The opportunity to do so has again been put within their easy reach by a recent 'translation of the very lucid explanation of the matter given by J. Y. Bainvel, S.J., in his work Hors de I’Eglise pas de Saint. The original was published in 1903, but it has only lately appeared in an English version by the- Rev. J. L. Weidenhan, S.T.L., with the title, “Is There Salvation Outside the Catholic Church?” (Herder). The theological explanation dates back to the early days of the Church, and Father Bainvel in his little volume has carefully followed- the beaten track.

There are two forms of union with the Church : one in act and the other in desire. Of the former nothing need be said, for it is manifested by actual acceptance of the truths the Church teaches, actual

reception of the Sacraments she administers, and actual submission to the authority she exercises, especially to that of the Pope, Christ’s Vicar on earth. - That the Church has also recognised a union' which consists of desire might be proved by many citations, but a classic passage from St. Ambrose will suffice. The great Doctor declares that no one is crowned with glory who is not initiated into the Church, but in the same place he states that Valentinian had been initiated into the Church, although he died before being actually baptised and the reason he gives for his statement is that the Emperor had the wish and the will to be baptised. St. Ambrose assumes it as undoubted that both martyrs and catechumens, properly so-called, are crowned with glory, and from this he argues that both martyrdom and the proper desire for baptism effect a sort of union with the Church. The Church has always recognised that such a Baptism of desire supplies for Baptism with water. When this desire is explicit, there is no difficulty whatever, for catechumens have always been counted members of the Church, though iri a restricted and imperfect sense. There is a difficulty, however, about the case of those who have at most an implicit desire to enter the Church. Such a desire may exist, paradoxical as at first sight it may appear, in those who either have never heard of the Church, or, if they are acquainted with the Church do not recognise her for what she really is, namely, the mystical body of Christ. Such persons, so far from explicitly desiring to enter the Church, may actually hold the Church in abomination and yet, in spite of their abhorrence and because of their ignorance, they may entertain and often, more often perhaps than is commonly thought, actually do entertain an implicit desire to join the Church. A soul that sincerely loves God with perfect love, unites its intelligence to the Divine intelligence and its will Divine will it accepts whatever of truth has been manifested to it; it wills whatever God wills, it desires to fulfil the Divine commands, its wish is to know the Divine pleasure and to live according to it; it excludes nothing, it is disposed to do everything that God would have it do. It may be ignorant of certain of the Divine truths and commands, but its habitual and prevailing attitude of soul is to accept whatever God has revealed and to do whatever lie commands. In this general explicit desire there is contained an implicit desire to enter the Church, for entrance into the Church is one of the things Christ commands.

If the dominant wish of such persons were analysed it would be found that they have a resolute determination to serve God to the best of their knowledge and ability in the way He has prescribed. Were they asked if they were desirous of taking the step necessary to secure that perfect service, undoubtedly they would answer in the affirmative. That step, in the concrete, is entrance into the Chtholic Church. They desire, therefore, vaguely it is true but none the less really, to enter her communion. The blindness arising from prejudice and ignorance holds their eyes, so that, seeing, they do not see either the true character of the Church or the necessity of entering it; but the desire to become sheep in the true Fold is nevertheless latent in their souls, and would become explicit if the mists were cleared away from their darkened mental vision. The Church can only judge by external manifestations, and, as such persons are not bound to her by visible ties, she does not call them her members. But God searcheth the hearts of men, He knows how to discount human statements, He acts on the desire of the soul rather than on the words of the lips. Accepting the will for the deed, therefore, God counts them as invisible members of His Church. The meaning of the formula, therefore, “Outside the Church there is no salvation,” is this; The ordinary way of salvation is to be found only in visible union with the Church ; nevertheless Divine Providence has extraordinary means of providing salvation for sincere and upright souls that do what in them lies; such souls will be given grace by God to unite themselves invisibly to the

Church, and to die in union with it. This grace, if accepted, gives them membership .in the Communion of Saints, real though invisible membership in . ; the Church Militant, and glorious, visible membership in the Church Triumphant.