Introduction: I've said before that I am not a Catholic apologist. I tend to spend little to no time in consideration of protestant faiths. Unfortunately I did go to a Lutheran High School so did study Martin Luther's heresies for 4 years. As a result of this I came back to the Truth in the Catholic Church. I have experienced first hand the errors of protastantism and shun them like the plague they are. Anyway, I read a fine reading called "Against the Reformers" by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. Beautiful, simple title is it not? I'll post it in parts and God bless you.
Against the Reformers
"A church which is not one in its doctrine and faith can never be the True Church. Hence, because truth must be one, of all the different churches, only one can be the true one, and outside of that Church there is no salvation. "
"Now, in order to determine which is this one true Church, it is necessary to examine which is the Church first founded by Jesus Christ, for when this is ascertained, it must be confessed that this one alone is the true Church which, having once been the true Church must always have been the true Church and must forever be the true Church. For to this first Church has been made the promise of the Savior that the gates of Hell would never be able to overturn it [Matt 16:18]. "
"In the entire history of religion, we find that the Roman Catholic Church alone was the first Church, and that the other false and heretical churches afterwards departed and separated from her. This is the Church which was propagated by the Apostles and afterwards governed by pastors whom the Apostles themselves appointed to rule over her. This character can be found only in the Roman Church, whose pastors descend securely by an uninterrupted and legitimate succession from the Apostles of the world [Matt 28:20]. "
St Alphonsus Mary De Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop and Doctor of the Church
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7 comments:
A beautiful post. You should engage in apologetics a little more Sanctus.
I will add one caveat for the sake of those who might follow the thought of Fr. Leonard Feeney: and who exactly is "outside the Church"? Vatican II (Lumen Gentium, No. 14) provides answer: "Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved."
To those who mistakenly believe that membership in the Church alone is necessary for salvation, the same document teaches that, "He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a 'bodily' manner and not 'in his heart.' All the Church's children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged."
Again, great post Sanctus my sister.
Your header looks like it's tiny now but is being stretched/resized to appear bigger?
Thank you Paul
Vincenzo - I've noticed the header looks fuzzy and strange lately and I have no idea why
It appears that the image was resized to be only 400 pixels wide and our browsers are being instructed to display it full width - so it's a low resolution image that's being blown up and therefore is fuzzy..
I'll see if I still have the original and send you one.
Ok, deleted old one and uploaded the new link you sent me, its better now I think. Thanks Vincenzo!
Welcome - looks much better now. If you ever want to use one of the new wider blog templates, and you still have all of the original individual images/engravings that are in the header, let me know and I will try to reconstruct it larger.
Melanson said...
I will add one caveat for the sake of those who might follow the thought of Fr. Leonard Feeney: and who exactly is "outside the Church"? Vatican II (Lumen Gentium, No. 14) provides answer: "Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved."
Lionel:
Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7) ‘All must be converted to Him, made known by the Church's preaching, and all must be incorporated into Him by baptism and into the Church which is His body. For Christ Himself "by stressing in express language the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5), at the same time confirmed the necessity of the Church, into which men enter by baptism, as by a door.-Ad Gentes 7
Vatican Council II like the dogma says all need to enter the Church for salvation.
Paul:
To those who mistakenly believe that membership in the Church alone is necessary for salvation,
Lionel:
This is the teaching of Vatican Council II so we cannot be mistaken.
Paul:
the same document teaches that, "He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a 'bodily' manner and not 'in his heart.'
Lionel:
Yes and we do not know personally who these cases are. They are known only to God. So they do not contradict Vatican Council II (AG 7)
Paul
All the Church's children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged."
Lionel:
True.
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/search/label/Fr.Rafael%20Pascual%20L.C
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