A Short Catechism on EENS

1 Q: Is there salvation outside the Church?

A: No, for it is a dogma that there is no salvation outside the Church (extra ecclesiam nulla salus).

2 Q: Can a non-Catholic be saved?

A: The question is misplaced, and needs to be reformulated - for all men have the potential to be saved.

3 Q: Is it the teaching of the Catholic Church, then, that all men who die as non-Catholics are eternally damned?

A: No - for it is not always required to be an actual member of the Church in order to attain eternal salvation.

4 Q: If there is no salvation outside the church, how can men who die as non-Catholics be saved - is this not a contradiction?

A: There is no such contradiction. There is a distinction between being "inside" the Church and being a "member" [i.e., a Catholic] of the Church.

5. Q: What is the proof for this distinction?

A: There are mainly two proofs for this:

• The first is the authority of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office [Letter to the Archbishop Cusing; August 8, 1949] which declared: "that one may obtain eternal salvation, it is not always required that he be incorporated into the Church actually as a member."
  

• The second is the long held tradition which holds that catechumens may be saved by baptism of desire. Catechumens have never been considered members of the Church - that is, a part of the "faithful." Nevertheless when they die, Catholic tradition holds the possibility of salvation for them. Therefore one may be inside the Church without being a member.

More to come....