What I believe as a Catholic - 2019

 

I affirm all Church documents and magisterial teachings in harmony with the traditional teaching on there being exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church.I accept Vatican Council II( Ad Gentes 7) which says all need faith and the baptism of water for salvation -all. 

I also accept Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441 and the Catechism of Pope Pius X which says all need to be members of the Catholic Church to avoid Hell( for salvation).The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites AG 7.So it is in harmony  with the old  Catechisms, for me.

I accept  the baptism of desire(BOD), baptism of blood(BOB) and invincible ignorance(I.I).For me they can only be hypothetical.They are possibilities known only to God.We cannot say that there were 20 cases of BOD, BOB and I.I last year or 25 cases the year before. They are always unseen and unknown to us humans. So they are not objective exceptions  to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus(EENS) as it was known to the missionaries in the 16th century. So I do not have to reject  BOD, BOB and I.I which are only speculative possibilities.

 I also accept LG 8, LG 14, LG 16, UR 3, NA 2, GS 22 etc in Vatican Council II. They can only be theoretical cases for us human beings on earth.We cannot see or meet any one saved in invincible ignorance (LG 16) or elements of sanctification and truth(LG 8) outside the Church in 2019.

 They are not practical exceptions  in 2019 to EENS, as it was known to the Church Fathers , the saints and popes in the Middle Ages and Vatican Council II.

So for me Vatican Council  is a continuation and not a rupture with Trasdition ( Syllabus of Errors, past eccleiology ,ecumenism of return etc)

 Like it was for Fr.Leonard Feeney of Boston, for me, there are no literal cases of BOD, BOB and I.I, which could be exceptions to the traditional interpretation of EENS.There is no known salvation outside the Catholic Church for me.

I attend Holy Mass in Italian, Latin and Byzantine Greek in different Rites in Rome. I have been a part of , and shall support, the Neo Catechumenal Way, Catholic Charimatic Renewal , the Focolares and Legion of Mary.I am pro- Medugorje where I have been on two pilgrimages, over more than two months.

I am not a traditionalist who rejects Vatican Council II and neither am I a  liberal who rejects the dogma EENS, the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX, the past exclusivist ecclesiology.I affirm BOD, BOB and I.I along with Feeneyite EENS. Since BOD,BOB and I.I are always hypothetical I do not have to choose either BOD, BOB and I.I or Feeneyite EENS.

With this rational and traditional theological position I was not allowed to continue with  my theological and philosophical studies at recognized Catholic institutions.I have university credit points.I need to complete  my  studies in the final year, to receive an academic degree.

-Lionel Andrades

E-mail: lionelandrades10@gmail.com

Blog: Eucharist and Mission

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