First, let me say I wish I could still watch EWTN. I used to, years ago, when we had it in our cable lineup. Unfortunately our cable company only makes it available now in their digital package, which is out of our budget.
Fr. Ryland is a convert to Catholicism, he received his doctorate in religious studies at Marquette University, and from the Catholic Answers website I'll quote:
Fr. Ryland is an adjunct professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and serves as chaplain of the Coming Home Network and of Catholics United for the Faith. He is a contributing editor of This Rock magazine and an assistant pastor at St. Peter's Church in Steubenville, Ohio. He is
not claiming that everyone gets a free pass to Heaven. He
is explaining the dogma "No Salvation Outside the Church," as the Catholic Church teaches it. There is much more to the article I posted the beginning to than I posted. I'm sure I'd be violating copyright laws if I posted the whole article, so that's why I provided a link in my above post.
I will post a couple more quotes from this article before moving on:
The key elements of revelation that together undergird extra ecclesiam, nulla salus are these: (1) Jesus Christ is the universal Savior. (2) He has constituted his Church as his mystical body on earth through which he dispenses salvation to the world. (3) He always works through it�though in countless instances outside its visible boundaries. Recall John Paul�s words about the Church quoted above: "Her activity is not limited only to those who accept its message."
Extra ecclesiam, nulla salus does not mean that only faithful Roman Catholics can be saved. The Church has never taught that. And he quotes from the New Testament:
Jesus told his followers, [color:#660000]"I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16). After his Resurrection, Jesus gave the threefold command to Peter:
"Feed my lambs. . . . Tend my sheep. . . . Feed my sheep" (John 21:15�17). The word translated as "tend" (poimaine) means "to direct" or "to superintend"�in other words, "to govern." So although there are sheep that are not of Christ�s fold, it is through the Church that they are able to receive his salvation.[/color]
He concludes with:
The Catholic Church is "the single and exclusive channel by which the truth and grace of Christ enter our world of space and time" (Karl Adam, The Spirit of Catholicism, 179). Those who do not know the Church, even those who fight against it, can receive these gifts if they honestly seek God and his truth. But, Adam says, "though it be not the Catholic Church itself that hands them the bread of truth and grace, yet it is Catholic bread that they eat." And when they eat of it, "without knowing it or willing it" they are "incorporated in the supernatural substance of the Church."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also makes it clears that "No Salvation Outside the Church," does not mean only Catholics can be saved.Who belongs to the Catholic Church?
836 "All men are called to this catholic unity of the People of God. . . . And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God's grace to salvation."320
838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter."322 Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church."323 With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."324
"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337The quotes from the Catechism came from the Vatican's website:
[url=BellaOnline ALERT: For anti-spam reasons, we restrict the number of URLs allowed in a given post. You have exceeded our maximum number of URLs.
