Traditionalism

[XIX]

Basically for not accepting Jesus' "teaching" that no Muslim, Protestant, Jew, etc. will be saved. I don't agree with this stuff, but these were the two websites I found. It was the first thing I got when I typed in "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus" and "Catholic dogma."

I found it really disturbing because, while I never really believed what they were saying, I wondered "what if they are right? We'd basically all be screwed!"
I am also somewhat unfamiliar with the Traditionalist apologetics, and these sites had their entire case lined up.

So, I'm really shaken up about this--more so about the souls of my brothers and sisters in Christ than in myself. I still feel pretty secure about my salvation (I never feel 100% though) but I still like to postulate than a lot more people are in heaven than are in hell. When I came across these sites I was shaken up. So, how do I deal with this traditional stuff without losing my head?

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
3/23 - Fourth Tuesday of Lent

XIX,

It really is an interesting question you pose. The translation of "Extra Ecclesia Nulla Salus" is, roughly, "No Salvation Outside the Church." This can be taken in one of two ways:

1.) That there is literally no salvation for anyone who is not a member of the Catholic Church. This is the simple version, and if you were to deal much with theologians, you'd realize that the simple version is almost always the incorrect one. I'm hesitant to call this wrong, so I'll label it "The Very Misunderstood Conclusion" and it's held by a number of people who are so-called "traditionalists."

2.) The way the Church understands this phrase is outlined very well in [i]Dominus Iesus[/i]. Essentially, there is no salvation outside of the Church; this means that no one can be saved [i]through[/i] Buddha, Gurudev, Allah, Jupiter, Athena, Confucius or Zoroaster, but salvation is still open to them (so long as they are ignorant of the truth of the Catholic Faith - what "ignorant" means is for another time). If they are saved, they are [i]only[/i] saved through Christ, since Christ died for all.

I hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono

[Carson Weber]

XIX,

This form of ultra-traditionalism is condemned by the Church, and so, logically, those who adhere to this position have damned themselves.

Think about it.