The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 118: The Church and Non-Christians (2024)

Episode Date: April 27, 2024

Fr. Mike examines the relationship between the Church and non-Christian religions. He discusses that while there is some degree of goodness and truth in every religion, the fullness of truth exists in the Catholic Church. Fr. Mike concludes with a reflection on the statement from the early Church Fathers that “outside the Church there is no salvation.” Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 839-848. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down to the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 118, we're reading paragraphs 839 to 848 as always. of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 118, we're reading paragraphs 839 to 848 as always.

I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's all the same words, it's great! You can also download your own Catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day one 18. As I said, we're reading paragraphs eight 39 to eight 48. So we're still on the articles,

the, the four marks of the church churches, one Holy Catholic and apostolic. Yesterday we talked about what does Catholic mean? We remember it means universal or according to the totality and keeping with the whole. The church is Catholic in a double sense, right? Because Christ is fully present in her. The fullness of the means of salvation, the fullness of truth subsists in the Catholic church. So that fullness, that totality, that universality,

but also because the church is meant to go out to all of the world, like the entire universe, essentially. Also, we noted that there's dioceses and dioceses need to be united in faith in their worship of the world, like the entire universe, essentially. Also, we noted that there's dioceses, and dioceses need to be united in faith in their worship of the sacraments, worship of God through the sacraments, united with their apostolically ordained bishop, united with the Holy Father in Rome, all of these things.

We also noted in those last paragraphs, 836, 837, and 838, who belongs to the Catholic Church. And there's this pretty bold statement that says, oh, all human beings are called to this Catholic unity in the People of God and to it in the different ways belong or are ordered first of all the Catholic faithful Others who believe in Christ so non Catholic Christians and finally all mankind who are called by God's grace to salvation now We're taking that next step today And the question is so what is the relationship that the church has with other religions?

What's the relationship that church has to the Jewish people? What's the relationship that church has to the Muslim people or to non-Christian religions? So we're going to look at those things. We're also going to look at this big statement and the statement is right above paragraph 846. And the statement is, outside the church there is no salvation. That's a quote essentially from the early church fathers That was often repeated in there and it says that in paragraph 846 outside the church. There is no salvation What does that mean does that mean that one has to be a card-carrying Roman Catholic in order to enter heaven?

That's a good question. Thank you for asking the short answer is Let's wait Let's actually read it because the church gives us a great explanation of how we are to understand what this statement means So that's paragraph 846 to 848 today. So that's what we're looking at. We're looking at what's the church's relationship with religions around the world with non-christian religions with Muslims with the Jewish people and also how does the church see herself as people and also how does the church see herself as the universal sacrament of salvation that's what we're looking at today and that's such an incredible gift because we realize the church doesn't give herself these gifts she has simply

been given them by the Lord himself and it's our duty it's our privilege it's our responsibility to exercise them and to understand what this means that's why we're diving into this today. So here we are, since we're tackling this big topic, let us ask the Lord to give us His grace, to give us His understanding, to give us a spirit of love and a spirit of truth as we call upon God our Father in heaven.

We thank you and we give you praise. We ask you to please enlighten our minds, help us to understand clearly exactly what it is you wish to reveal to us, not only about yourself, your heart, your love, who you are, but also about your church. Your Son Jesus Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body of Christ. We ask you, Lord, help us to actually live united with our head. Help us live in union with your will. Help us to always see ourselves as constantly in need of reformation and at the same time

constantly being given your grace. Help us to acknowledge the goodness that we find in every person and all peoples around us. Help us to find the goodness and the truth that we find in varying degrees in all religions. Help us to acknowledge the dignity of every human being, our brothers and our sisters who are close to us, and those people who are strangers, who are far away from us. Help us to acknowledge and express the dignity that they have inherited by being made in your image. Help us to love everyone, especially those closest to us. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. We're reading paragraphs 839 to 848, day 118. The Church and Non-Christians Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the people of God in various ways. The Relationship of the Church with the Jewish People When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the people of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish people, to whom the Lord our God spoke first.

The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews, as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, To the Jews belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. And when one considers the future, God's people of the Old Covenant and the new people

of God tend towards similar goals, expectation of the coming or the return of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah, who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God. The other waits for the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time. And the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus. The Church's Relationship with the Muslims The Plan of Salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place, amongst whom are the Muslims. These profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us, they adore the one merciful

God, mankind's judge on the last day. The Church's bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race. As the Church document Nostra Aetate states, all nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people of the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the Holy City. The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search among shadows and images for the

God who is unknown yet near, since He gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as a preparation for the Gospel, and given by Him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life. In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them. As Lumen Gentium states, very often, deceived by the evil one, men have become vain in their

reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served the creature rather than the Creator, or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair. To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is the world reconciled. She is that bark witch in the full sale of the Lord's Cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit navigates safely in this world. According to another

image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's Ark, which alone saves from the flood. Outside the Church Church there is no salvation. How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Reformulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is His Body. As Lumen gentium states, 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 adore. 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. This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and His Church. Lumen gentium further states, "...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, these too may achieve eternal salvation." Although in ways known to himself, God can lead those who, through no fault of their conscience, these too may achieve eternal salvation. Although in ways known to himself, God can lead those who through no fault of their own are ignorant of the gospel to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men. Alright, so there we are, Day 118, paragraphs 839, to 848.

Wow, what a, it again challenging and yet I think really compelling days. What is the church doing in this section? Well, obviously it since the church is Catholic right in is universal We recognize that there's a relationship with those around us who don't believe what we believe And so if you think about in these terms, okay There's kind of three different groups of people the church is looking at when it comes to non-christians around us who don't believe what we believe. And so if you think about in these terms, okay, there's kind of three different groups of people the church is looking at when it comes to non-Christians. And then lastly, maybe a fourth group,

which is everybody who's not Catholic, if that makes any sense. So first is Jewish people, then the Muslims, and then any other non-Christian religions. And then kind of lastly is everyone who's just not Catholic, right? So that's the last section about outside the church, there's no salvation.

What does that mean for all those who, you know, all the way from non-Christian religions to Muslims, to Jews, to other Christians who aren't Catholic? What is the relationship? One of the images that I think could be helpful is the image of these concentric circles. And I like it like this, or think of it like this. So the church here is trying to affirm

that there is goodness and there is truth in almost every religion. So even, the church didn't mention this, but I'll say it's like Satanism. Satanism, they have a degree of truth. They believe Satan exists. That's true. But then they also would say worship him. And we say, no, no, no, that's false.

That's error. That's evil. So similarly, we have the church's relationship with non-Christian religions in paragraph 842. Say, for example, Hinduism. So Hindus believe in a spiritual world, the spiritual reality beyond the material world. Yeah, that's true. But they also believe in thousands or millions of deities, gods.

We say, okay, that's not true. But there is some truth there. How many times have you read something from Eastern mysticism or your Eastern teaching and thought, oh, yeah That's that's wise there So the church is affirming that all around us there is degrees of truth that abide and then even more truth say Paragraph 841 the church's relationship with Muslims. It says this it says in the first place among whom are Muslims They acknowledge their creator they profess to hold the faith of Abraham and together with us

They adore the one merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day. So whereas Hindus would believe in multiple gods, and that's error, Muslims believe in one God. And we say, yeah, that's true, but they don't believe that God is their father. And we say, okay, they don't believe in the Trinity, or in Jesus Christ himself.

And so we'd say, okay, that's false, that's error, that's where that religion is wrong. The first religion that's mentioned, of course, is the one that's closest to Christianity because Christianity comes from Judaism. So in paragraph 839 and 840, it looks at the church's relationship with the Jewish people. And there's so much affirmation.

I just, I really wanna highlight this. You know, Dr. Brant Petrie is this phenomenal scripture scholar and he has a whole series of books on Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist. Or Mary and the Jewish roots of Mary? There's all Jewish roots basically and he does this podcast where he does these talks where he talks about here's the way in which we understand the New Testament always in light of the old because why because we recognize that Jesus

Was Jewish and Jesus comes from the Jewish people that the old covenant that God established with Abraham Isaac and Jacob with Moses This whole hey, well says here in the paragraph 839 these are the people to whom the Lord our God spoke first and This is remarkable the Jewish faith in this paragraph 839 again, the Jewish faith unlike other non-Christian religions is already a response to God's revelation, the Old Covenant. And this is a long quote from St. Paul's letter to the Romans which affirms so much goodness to the Jews belong the sonship, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises to them

belong the patriarchs and of the race according to the flesh is The Christ for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. There is something so profound There's a lot of truth in Judaism and at the same time They don't accept Jesus as the Christ and so there that's that's false. That's wrong. That's error And so after all of the affirmation the church says it yes in paragraph 843 After all of the affirmation, the Church says that yes, in paragraph 843, the Church recognizes in other religions that search among shadows and images for the God who is unknown, yet near, since He gives life and breath and all things, and He wants all men to be saved. So here's this affirmation, end that sentence, or that section of paragraph 843, it says, therefore, or thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as a preparation for the gospel and

given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life. So basically all truth comes from God. So if there's truth mixed in with error, if there's goodness mixed in with evil, that goodness, that truth comes from the Lord and we say and that's a preparation for them to receive the gospel Now at the same time the church is not being manby-pamby if you want to say it like that because paragraph 844 says Yeah, there's limits here in their religious behavior However, men also displayed the limits and errors that disfigured the image of God in them you know because of original sin all of us are tempted and deceived.

All of us are fallen. And here's this quote from Lumen Gentium, it says, very often, deceived by the evil one, men have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and serve the creature rather than the creator or else living and dying in this world without God, they're exposed to ultimate despair and so that recognition is we need the church we need Jesus Christ we need the fullness of truth I mentioned there's truth in all these different religions the fullness of truth subsists in the Catholic Church and the church is saying yes and we need

that the fullness of grace means of salvation or it subsists in the Catholic Church yes and we need that why because we are so prone to error, we are so prone to darkness, we are so prone to evil, that the only thing that can save us is this ship, right? This in paragraph 845, the bark, meaning like the boat, which in the full sail of the Lord's cross by the breath of the Holy Spirit navigates safely in this world. So that leads us to the last three paragraphs in these three paragraphs Could initially seem challenging and they might ultimately be challenging But I think they're incredibly beautiful. The first is this line outside the church. There is no salvation Say what is that and if the church the catechism asks the question, how are we to understand that? What what does that mean?

Outside the church. there is no salvation. Now, back in the 20th century there was a priest in the United States who held that what that meant was unless you were a card-carrying Roman Catholic, you could not enter heaven. The church basically said, no, that's not what that means and you are not to teach that. Here is what it means. I love this is so powerful again comes from the Second Vatican Council Lumen Gentium says basing itself on scripture and tradition the council teaches that the church a pilgrim now on earth is Necessary for salvation so the church is necessary goes on to say the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation Remember Jesus said I'm the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me

So Jesus is he's the mediator, the way of salvation. He's present to us in his body, which is the church. Yes, that's a huge affirmation. We just need to hear that. It goes on to say, he himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism. Right? Jesus, in John chapter 3, he says, unless you're born again of water and the Holy Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

And we recognize also that Jesus also said that unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. That you cannot enter eternal life unless you have the Eucharist. So there's this piece in here that we need to pay attention to. Goes on to say, when he did this,

when he asserted this necessity of faith and baptism Jesus himself affirmed at the same time the necessity of the church which men enter through baptism is through a door therefore or 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. So here is what is affirmed. God's grace comes to us through His body. Here's the head united to His body.

God's grace of salvation comes to us through His body. So if I knew that and rejected it, I'd be rejecting Him. That's really important to understand. So again, that last sentence, they could not be saved if I knew the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, but I refused to enter it or I refused to remain in it, I would be rejecting. I'd be saying no to the Lord. I'd be saying no to God. Now paragraph 847 could make some clarifications. It says, this affirmation is not aimed at those who

through no fault of their own do not know Christ and his church. And this is a sentence that I will often share with many many people when they ask the big question about like what about people who never know? What about someone far off you know tribe in the middle of the Amazon who have never heard of Jesus? It says this, those who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or his church But who nevertheless seek God with his sincere heart and moved by grace Try in their actions to do his will as they know it to the dictates of their conscience

Those two may achieve eternal salvation. So what's that saying? Okay, they seek God with a sincere heart Okay, first of all, it's this no fault of their own. So it's not someone who is like well, you know who really cares I'm not gonna take a look but because that would be that's the responsibility of every human being is to to try to find the truth We're all obligated to do that regardless of our story, right? And but only to the degree that we can but who through no fault of their own don't know the gospel of Christ or his church But who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart. You know what that looks like, what that sounds like is seeking God. That sounds like a pursuit.

It doesn't sound like I'm drifting towards heaven. I must actually be seeking God with a sincere heart. And it goes on to say, and moved by grace. Remember, we don't do any of this without God's help. We're moved by grace. So not only no fault of my own, but I'm also seeking God. This is this is a pursuit of God I'm actively trying to choose God as best as I can Also, God's grace is moving me his grace is helping me and it was on to say try in their actions to do as well as they

Know it which means it's not just kind of this thought I guess I'd like to know who God is, but they're trying to live this out, just like you and I. We're trying to live out our faith in Jesus as best we know him, to live out our faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the best as we know him. We have to do that in our actions,

not just in our minds, not just in our hearts. Those too may achieve eternal salvation. Hope that makes sense. Basically, what we're saying is God is just. We're saying God is good and God will judge us. He'll give us what we choose because of His grace, because Jesus Christ has opened the gates to heaven. Now heaven is possible. Heaven is chooseable. You don't say it like that, but we have to choose it like we have to actually choose heaven and secondly

We choose imperfectly. It's what God's graciousness is Okay, if you're choosing me as you know me I'll let you find me essentially that if that makes any sense Now that this lat here's the last note That doesn't mean that we don't last note. That doesn't mean that we don't share the gospel. That doesn't mean that we don't... well, people... yeah, gosh, if they're no fault of their own, they don't know Jesus or his church, then, you know, why tell them? Let them just pursue the Lord on their own. No,

paragraph 848 says this very clearly. Although in ways known to God himself, he could. He could lead those who are ignorant of the gospel to himself, the church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men. That's what we're talking about tomorrow. The mission of the church we still have, no matter what. Even if God can save those who do not know him or do not know his church, we still have an absolute duty, an absolute obligation and a sacred right to bring the gospel to every part of this world.

Does that make sense? Hopefully it does. Okay, today may be challenging, hopefully clarifying. I hope so. Hopefully exciting too, because this is, I don't know, I was so excited for today, day 118. I think that it is a powerful and beautiful teaching of the church that is so, it honors the Lord and I think it is well completely true

Which is pretty amazing But if you're struggling with today, please know we're praying for each other. I know you're praying for each other I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless