Saturday, October 27, 2012

FOR CARDINAL GODFRIED DANNEELS VATICAN COUNCIL II SAYS THERE IS KNOWN SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH SO IT IS A BREAK FROM THE PAST



At his talk in Southwark,England this month Cardinal Godfried Daneels made a wrong assumption.For him the  text of Vatican Council II is a break with the past. It says there is known salvation outside the Catholic Church. So this must contradict Tradition.Every reference to a non Catholic saved is a case of a known person dead, saved but now visible to him. So this is a break from the past.He can see these deceased who are exceptions to the dogma on salvation and the Syllabus of Errors.

This is irrational and there is no text in the Council to support the cardinal.Let us analyse the text briefly.

LUMEN GENTIUM
Lumen Gentium states non Catholics need to convert into the Church (LG 14).
14. This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. (emphasis added)

This is the same message as Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II. Those saved in invincible ignorance or the 'seeds of the word'(AG ) are not known exceptions to AG 7 and LG 14.

So when LG 14 also says the following and it is not contradictory.It is not a known exception.

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.-Lumen Gentium 14.

The above passage is not an exception to the earlier part of LG 14 on the necessity of the Church for salvation.

We do not know any case in 2012 of someone 'knowing that the Catholic Church was ....' and who refused to enter or remain in it and was saved or not saved. Since we cannot judge or know, this is a non issue. It does not contradict the earlier part of LG 14 (or AG 7) which says faith and baptism are needed for all for salvation.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, Himself a man, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:45), "neither is there salvation in any other" (Acts 4:12). Therefore, 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. (emphasis added)

So Vatican Council II (AG 7,LG 14) is in agreement with the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.Lumen Gentium is not a break with the past as the cardinal suggests.If we could judge,if we knew who is saved in invincible ignorance etc then it would be break with the past. It would contradict the dogma.

NOSTRA AETATE
Nostra Aetate does not state that non Catholics are saved in general in their religion.Neither does it state that non Catholics do not have to convert into the Catholic Church for salvation.We do not know any 'good and holy' non Catholic in 2012 who is saved.


So Nostra Aetate does not contradict AG 7 and LG 14.Nor does it contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus or the Syllabus of Errors.It is not a break with the past since there are no known exceptions.That a good and holy non Catholic can be saved and this would be known only to God is not a problem. It is not a break with the past because these unknown to us cases in the present times are  irrelevant to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus and the interpretation of Fr.Leonard Feeney.They are irrelevant because they are unknown.

DIGNITATIS HUMANAE
Dignitatis Humanae mentions that in a society with a secular Constitution a non Catholic has religious liberty. One cannot physically or legally oppose his freedom of religion.Morally, for a Catholic, outside the church there is no salvation, all need faith and baptism for salvation (AG 7).A non Catholic has an obligation to enter the Church and to remain in it for salvation.Morally he does not have religious liberty.
Among the non Catholics saved who knows and does not know will be decided by God.We cannot judge.This does not contradict AG 7 or LG 14.

So when it is clear that Vatican Council II (AG 7) is in agreement with the dogma on salvation and that LG 16,NA etc do not contradict AG 7 then we Catholics have the religious right according to our Faith, to proclaim Vatican Council II(Dignitatis Humanae) (2)  in agreement with the dogma on salvation. We have the moral right because of our Catholic Faith to say other religions are not paths to salvation. We have a moral right to say non Catholics are on the way to Hell unless they convert into the Catholic Church.


So Vatican Council II is not a break with the past.


For Cardinal Danneels Vatican Council II is a break with the past because:

1) There is known salvation outside the Catholic Church according to Vatican Council II. There is known salvation since the dead saved in invincible ignorance etc are visible to him and so are exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.


2) Since there is known salvation outside the Catholic Church Nostra Aetate, Lumen Gentium, Dignitatis Humane etc contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, the Syllabus of Errors and Tradition in general.


3) Even if in principle (hypothetically) there can be salvation outside the church  for Cardinal Gottfried Danneels, defacto (explictly) we do not know any case. He does not know any such case.So when Vatican Council II refers to de jure (in principle) cases of non Catholics being saved it is not a break with the past but an agreement with Tradition.

Once these errors are corrected Vatican Council II is traditional and in agreement with the past.
-Lionel Andrades

1.http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/yof_card_danneels_lecture.pdf



2.
14. In order to be faithful to the divine command, "teach all nations" (Matt. 28:19-20), the Catholic Church must work with all urgency and concern "that the word of God be spread abroad and glorified" (2 Thess. 3:1). Hence the Church earnestly begs of its children that, "first of all, supplications, prayers, petitions, acts of thanksgiving be made for all men.... For this is good and agreeable in the sight of God our Savior, who wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1-4). In the formation of their consciences, the Christian faithful ought carefully to attend to the sacred and certain doctrine of the Church.(35) For the Church is, by the will of Christ, the teacher of the truth. It is her duty to give utterance to, and authoritatively to teach, that truth which is Christ Himself, and also to declare and confirm by her authority those principles of the moral order which have their origins in human nature itself. Furthermore, let Christians walk in wisdom in the face of those outside, "in the Holy Spirit, in unaffected love, in the word of truth" (2 Cor. 6:6-7), and let them be about their task of spreading the light of life with all confidence(36) and apostolic courage, even to the shedding of their blood.

The disciple is bound by a grave obligation toward Christ, his Master, ever more fully to understand the truth received from Him, faithfully to proclaim it, and vigorously to defend it, never-be it understood-having recourse to means that are incompatible with the spirit of the Gospel. At the same time, the charity of Christ urges him to love and have prudence and patience in his dealings with those who are in error or in ignorance with regard to the faith.(37) All is to be taken into account-the Christian duty to Christ, the life-giving word which must be proclaimed, the rights of the human person, and the measure of grace granted by God through Christ to men who are invited freely to accept and profess the faith.-Dignitatis Humanae

http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/yof_card_danneels_lecture.pdf

http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/