USCCB DOCTRINE COMMITTEE PLEASE REVIEW THE FR.PETER C. PHAN CASE: THREE COMMON SENSE POINTS

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a Notification on Fr. Peter C. Phan.

WASHINGTON (December 10, 2007)—The U.S. Bishops' Doctrine Committee issued clarifications concerning several aspects of Father Peter C. Phan's book, Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue.

Father Phan's book uses "certain terms in an equivocal manner" that "opens the text up to significant ambiguity," the Committee said. It added that "a fair reading of the book could leave readers in considerable confusion as to the proper understanding of the uniqueness of Christ."

The Committee, which represents the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on doctrinal matters, outlined its concerns in a statement, "Clarifications Required by the Book Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue." The Committee made the statement public December 10. It is available at www.usccb.org/dpp/StatementonBeingReligiousInterreligiously.pdf.

-from the USCCB website

                                                                                                                                

Apply the Three Common Sense points.

1. There is no way that we can know of a particular person saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire because of its very nature. It is known only to God.

2. There is no text in Vatican Council II or the Catechism which claims we know of any such case.

3. So Vatican Council II and the Catechism do not contradict the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.-The Three Common Sense Points

The baptism of desire is a gift of God. We cannot claim that someone has received the Baptism of Desire this month. We cannot claim to know the Mind of God.

Observe the common error.They postulate that since it is possible to be saved in invincible ignorance we know of such cases in real life. Then they assume this contradicts the dogma which says everyone needs to enter the Church for salvation.


So the USCCB Doctrine Committee needs to affirm the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. It needs to clarify that in principle, and known only to God, a person can be saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire and that the Church still teaches that everyone with no exception needs to enter the Church for salvation.

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1.

1. “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215). Ex cathedra.

2.“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.).Ex cathedra.

3.“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) Ex cathedra – from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements Regarding EENS http://nosalvationoutsideofthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/

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THE USCCB COMMITTEE ON DOCTRINE

Chairman:

Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl

Archdiocese of Washington

Members:

Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair

Bishop of Toledo.

Most Reverend Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB

Archbishop of Indianapolis

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of San Antonio

Most Reverend William E. Lori

Bishop of Bridgeport

Most Reverend Robert J. McManus

Bishop of Worcester

Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades

Bishop of Fort Wayne South Bend

Most Reverend Arthur J. Serratelli

Bishop of Paterson

Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron

Archbishop of Detroit

Bishop Consultants:

His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.

Archbishop of Chicago

Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt

Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Consultants:

Very Reverend Steven C. Boguslawski, O.P.

Pontificial Faculty of the Immaculate Conception

Sr. Sara Butler, M.S.B.T.

St. Joseph's Seminary, Yonkers, New York

Dr. Peter J. Casarella

DePaul University

Dr. John C. Cavadini

University of Notre Dame

Reverend John Michael McDermott, S.J.

Sacred Heart Seminary

Secretariat of Doctrine

3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194

(202) 541-3000 (202) 541-3000