Reprinted with permission of the Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archidocese of Milwaukee
Milwaukee Catholic Herald, Sep. 14, 2000

Outside the Catholic Church no salvation?
By Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B.

After reading a newspaper article, what we remember most is the headline. This past week "The Journal Sentinel," reporting on the document "Dominus Iesus" from the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, carried the headline: "Vatican insists only faithful Catholics can attain salvation." After reading carefully the full document, I can tell you this statement never occurs in the text. It does say that the Catholic Church believes it has all the means that are necessary for salvation. We Catholics are convinced of this truth. Otherwise, why would we be Catholic? (I know that members of other churches believe the same about their particular churches.) The Asian bishops in particular, I am told, wanted a statement from Rome asserting this truth because Evangelical Christians were invading their countries in droves, preaching and disseminating literature that states that Catholics cannot be saved. I, too, am bombarded by such literature.

The first half of the document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is directed toward those scholars engaged in theological dialogues with other great religions, especially Buddhism and Hinduism. It takes exception to those Catholic and Protestant theologians who minimize the salvific role of Jesus Christ and try to find manifestations of the presence of the second person of the Trinity (the Logos) or the salvific workings of the Holy Spirit in those other religions, while diminishing or eliminating the unique role of Jesus Christ.

Concerning members of the other great religions of the world, however, the document quotes the statement of the bishops of Vatican Council II that God can bestow salvific grace to adherents to these religions "in ways known to himself." It is impossible to reconcile that statement with the interpretation that God only grants this grace to faithful Catholics.

The second half of the document deals with the uniqueness of the Catholic Church as we Catholics understand it. The document repeats the teaching of Vatican Council II that the church founded and willed by Jesus Christ "subsists in" the Catholic Church. The bishops at that council debated at length over the right phrase to use " "subsists in," or "is the same as," or "is identified with" " and chose the first in order to acknowledge the existence of true ecclesial elements in other churches. The document admits that the bishops at Vatican Council II did not want to teach a doctrine of exclusivity, but to accept the fact that outside the structure of the Catholic Church "many elements can be found of sanctification and truth."

In examining what must characterize a true church, the new document cites "apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist." Without these two qualities the document does not call a Christian denomination a church. In my opinion the documents of Vatican Council II made the role of baptism much more significant as entrance into the Body of Christ and thus into the church: "All who have been justified by faith in baptism are members of Christ's body and have a right to be called Christians, and so are deservedly recognized as sisters and brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church ("Lumen gentium," No. 3)." The documents of Vatican Council II do not hesitate to use the word "churches" to characterize these communities of the Reformation ("Unitatis redintegratio," No. 19). Unfortunately, "Dominus Jesus" does not take into account the enormous progress made after Vatican Council II in the mutual recognition of each other's baptisms and the ecclesial significance of such recognition.

What is disappointing about this document is that so many of our partners in ecumenical dialogues will find its tone heavy, almost arrogant and condescending. To them it is bound to seem out of keeping with the elevated and open tone of the documents of Vatican Council II. It ignores all of the ecumenical dialogues of the last 35 years, as if they did not exist. None of the agreed statements are cited. Has no progress in working toward convergence of theological thought occurred in these 35 years? Our partners have every reason to believe we may not be sincere in such dialogues. We seem to be talking out of both sides of the mouth, for example, making agreements with the Lutherans on Monday and then calling into question the validity of their ecclesial nature on Tuesday. To those involved in the ecumenical dialogues this document will be seen as pessimistic and disheartening. It will be a burr in the side of all involved in the ecumenical movement for decades to come and will continue to promote the conviction that we Catholic are simply not sincere.

But we Catholics can all hold, without apology, as stating our position what the bishops gathered at Vatican Council II declared: "Some, and even most, of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace, faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, coming from Christ and leading back to Christ, properly belong to the one church of Christ ("Unitatis redintegratio," No. 3)."

"Reprinted with permission of the Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee."

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