Saturday, December 31, 2011

LONE JEHOVAH WITNESS IN THE COLD : BAPTISM OF WATER AND 'SUBMISSION TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION'

There was a lone elderly man at the entrance of the metro station today morning at about 8 a.m. The other Jehovah Witnesses had probably deserted him. It was a cold morning and it rained yesterday, probably during the night too.

He was handing out their magazine to a few people entering the station. Today is a holiday.

On an average on Saturdays and Sundays there are about seven or eight of them eager to share their new faith, enforced at talks at different centers during the week. They believe they are among the few who will make it to Heaven. They hand out their literature to save your soul and they will refuse to accept any literature you present them.

When they speak to me I tell them that they are going to Hell. This is the official teaching of the Catholic Church.

Why cannot other Catholics say the same thing as me?

Since other Catholics believe the baptism of desire is visible and known and is an exception to the dogma outside the church there is no salvation.

Other Catholics do not know that the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 was a criticism of the Archbishop of Boston Richard Cushing when it mentioned an implicit baptism of desire and not an explicit-to-us one.

So other Catholics believe there can be a defacto exception to the dogma in the present times.

So for other Catholics the ordinary possible way of salvation is not Catholic Faith and the baptism of water (LG 14, AG 7) but the baptism of desire etc.

So when other Catholics meet the JW’s they believe the baptism of desire and invincible ignorance are the ordinary means of salvation.

I wrote this note in the Church Chiesa del Gesu, Rome .On my left was the tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola and on my right the altar with the relic of St. Francis Xavier. The Vice Rector here Fr. Massimo Morelli S.J (1) says the natives were saved in Goa before St. Francis Xavier arrived there. So for him and the elderly Jesuit who hears  Confession  near the altar of St.Francis Xavier the ordinary means of salvation is invincible ignorance.

If Fr.Massimo and  the other Jesuits here would meet that elderly man today morning they would welcome him into the Catholic Church if he was interested in returning but probably could assume that he was not going to Hell. Since for them the ordinary means of salvation is having a good conscience, being saved with the ‘seeds of the Word’, invincible ignorance, being in imperfect communion with the church, the baptism of desire and the mercy of merciful God.

The Sacrament of Penance is the ordinary way to receive God’s mercy for those in mortal sin. However with perfect contrition a person can also have sins forgiven in penance (Letter of the Hoy Office 1949)

Similarly the baptism of water and 'submission to the Catholic Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff is required as necessary for salvation'. (Letter of the Holy Office 1949).

According to the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 all the JW's are oriented to Hell since 'submission to the Catholic Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff is required as necessary for salvation'. 
-Lionel Andrades