Wednesday, March 21, 2012

VATICAN COUNCIL II REJECTS THE THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS

The Theology of Religions being promoted by various liberal groups omits Ad Gentes 7 which says all need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation ( to avoid Hell ). Vatican Council II like the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus is saying that all Jews, Protestants and Orthdox Christians need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation. Protestants and the Orthodox do not have Catholic Faith.

The Theology of Religions being promoted by the liberals  omit the teaching of Vatican Council II which says that there is exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church. This has been the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church for centuries.

The Center for Christian Jewish Learning in Boston College, which has the support of Jewish Left professors and allies presents its political version of Vatican Council II . -Lionel Andrades

JEWISH-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE AND THE THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS


Christian M. Rutishauser


ABSTRACT

From a historical point of view, the new understanding of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people was the catalyst for the Second Vatican Council to elaborate a declaration on the non-Christian religions. This is not a mere accident.

Lionel: Nostra Aetate does not state that Judaism is the ordinary means of salvation or that Jews do not have to convert into the Catholic Church.


Nostra Aetate says that ‘the Church is the new people of God.’

The Jewish-Christian relationship does, even from a systematic point of view, play a paradigmatic, critical and corrective function for a Christian theology of religions. It has a character sui generis, for Judaism constitutes the Other within Christian self-identity. The Jewish-Christian relationship helps to formulate the meaning of the particular in the discussion of the universal Christian claim of truth and salvation when facing other religions.

Lionel: According to Ad Gentes 7 Judaism is not a path to salvation. Jews, and all people need to convert into the Church. Similarly Dominus Iesus 20, the Catechism of the Catholic Church 845,846 and other magisterial documents repeat the Biblical message that Jews need to convert into the Church for salvation.

Furthermore, it prevents a theology of religion from sliding into abstract, non-historical and purely speculative definitions. Normally, Christology and especially the theology of Incarnation guarantees it, but they have to be linked themselves back to the messianic idea of Judaism and the history of salvation where the Church itself recognizes the unrevoked covenant between God and Israel.

Lionel: Catholics believe that Jesus made a new and eternal covenant with his death and Resurrection. This is the clear message in the New Testament.

Only a theology of religions that recognizes the lasting challenge of the Jewish faith for Christian identity will have overcome anti-Judaism at its roots.

Lionel: Vatican Council II , like the dogma Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441 says Jews need to convert for salvation. ALL need to convert.

The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston referred to 'the dogma' the 'infallible' statement. The infallible dogma says all Jews in Boston need to convert to avoid the fires of Hell.It affirmed exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church and not the theology of religions.

The theology of religions was rejected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Notification on Fr.Jacques Dupuis 2001 during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. It is now being enforced politically by the Jewish Left.

KEYWORDS
Jewish-Christian Dialogue; Theology of Religions

KEYWORDS
Jewish-Christian Dialogue; Theology of Religions

Full Text: PDF

http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/scjr/article/view/1356

ST.THOMAS DID NOT REJECT “INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE”: HE KNEW IT DID NOT CONTRADICT THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF OUTSIDE THE CHURCH NO SALVATION, WHICH HE HELD

There is no Church document ,pope or saint who claims that those saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire are known to us and so they are explicit exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

St.Thomas Aquinas affirmed the ‘rigorist interpretation’ of the dogma outside the church no salvation. He also accepted in principle that a non Catholic can be saved in invincible ignorance .He knew in general that the normal, ordinary way of salvation was Catholic Faith with the baptism of water.

The ordinary way of salvation is not the baptism of desire or blood since we cannot give ourself this grace. However we can administer the baptism of water and teach someone the Catholic Faith.

The sedevacantists Most Holy Family Monastery (MHFM) assume that those saved in invincible ignorance are explicitly known to us and so they are exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. So they also assume that St.Thomas Aquinas made a mistake.-Lionel Andrades
 
ST. THOMAS REJECTED “INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE”

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by: Bro. Peter Dimond O.S.B. from Most Holy Family Monastery, 4425 Schneider Rd., Fillmore, NY 14735, (800)275-1126 or (585)567-4433.


It is also very important to point out that while St. Thomas Aquinas was wrong on baptism of desire, he held the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation and rejected the modern day heresy that people can be saved who are “invincibly ignorant” of Jesus Christ. In numerous places St. Thomas directly addressed the question of persons in so-called invincible ignorance.

St. Thomas Aquinas, De Veritate, 14, A. 11, ad 1: Objection- “It is possible that someone may be brought up in the forest, or among wolves; such a man cannot explicitly know anything about the faith. St. Thomas replies- It is the characteristic of Divine Providence to provide every man with what is necessary for salvation… provided on his part there is no hindrance. In the case of a man who seeks good and shuns evil, by the leading of natural reason, God would either reveal to him through internal inspiration what had to be believed, or would send some preacher of the faith to him…”[cclvi]

St. Thomas Aquinas, Sent. II, 28, Q. 1, A. 4, ad 4: “If a man born among barbarian nations, does what he can, God Himself will show him what is necessary for salvation, either by inspiration or sending a teacher to him.”[cclvii]

St. Thomas Aquinas, Sent. III, 25, Q. 2, A. 2, solute. 2: “If a man should have no one to instruct him, God will show him, unless he culpably wishes to remain where he is.”[cclviii]

In the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas further taught the truth that all men above reason are bound to know the principal mysteries of Christ for salvation with no exceptions for ignorance.

St. Thomas, Summa Theologica: “After grace had been revealed, both the learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation, of which we have spoken above.”[cclix]

Saint Thomas, Summa Theologica: “And consequently, when once grace had been revealed, all were bound to explicit faith in the mystery of the Trinity.”[cclx]

Therefore, St. Thomas, like all of the fathers of the Church, rejected the modern heresy of “invincible ignorance” saving those who die as non-Catholics.

Lionel:
St.Thomas was saying that if a man in the forest was in invincible ignorance he could be saved and God would send a preacher to him or have him baptized . So in Heaven there are only Catholics. This is the view also of the religious at the St.Benedict Centers in the USA , inspired by Fr.Leonard Feeney.

In ‘certain circumstances’ (Letter of the Holy Office 1949 ) a non Catholic can be saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire (followed by the baptism of water) and it would be known only to God. We would not know any of these cases. So it was always assumed that these were not explicit exceptions to the dogma outside the church no salvation.

MHFM
His speculation and erroneous teaching on baptism of blood/desire only regarded catechumens.

Lionel:
Yes the baptism of desire is with reference to only catechumens who die before having received the baptism of water which they sought.

However there can be non Catholics in some forest, in invincible ignorance, who can receive the grace of salvation and it would be known only to God. This is a possibility and we accept it in principle. Explicilty, we do not know any case.
 
MHFM
And this point really shows the dishonesty of modern heretics, who like to quote St. Thomas Aquinas on baptism of desire to somehow justify their heretical idea that members of false religions can be saved by “baptism of desire.

Lionel:
That members of religions which are false paths to salvation can be saved in principle with the baptism of desire is a possibility we accept and this in no way contradicts the rigorist interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas or that of the Dimond Brothers at the Most Holy Family Monastery.

http://onetruecatholicfaith.com/articles.php?id=308&title=St.+Thomas+rejected+%22Invincible+Ignorance%22&category=Catholic+Articles&page=2