A Short Ramble About Unity and Division

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Liguori Publications, 1994), authored and published by the Holy See in Rome (as opposed to a local catechism such as The Baltimore Catechism which is only authoritative in its home diocese) there is a passage which I think would blow the minds of Protestant Evangelicals.

In sections 1257 through 1261 it talks about the necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism. It reads:

“The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. … God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments. The Church has always held firm the conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings abut the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament. For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentence for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.”

So, why is this passage important? What it is essentially saying is that a person may be saved regardless of whether or not they have been baptized. In short, the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church has set their stamp on what Protestant Evangelicals have been saying all along, that when it comes down to it faith alone in Christ is enough for one's salvation. To be sure, they do not express it in these words, but this is the brass tacks of what they are saying. Where we run into arguments is the Catholic insistence that faith requires the actions of faith in order for it to truly be faith. If someone has the ability to be baptized, then faith in Christ demands that the person follow through with Baptism because this is the action that faith requires in order for it to really be faith. It has been my experience that most pastors in most Protestant Churches would also question the profession of faith in Christ by someone who then refuses to follow the Lord in Baptism.

Often, when I tell people that the Protestant Evangelical Church and the Catholic Church basically believe the same thing but explain it in different ways, they look at me funny and wonder what planet I'm from. But it is this passage above, and others like it in the Catechism and other writings from both sides which has convinced me of the truth of our agreement. Our main problem is the inability to see things through each others eyes and to understand what the other is saying. It doesn't help either when we have, on both sides, done a remarkably poor job in educating our congregations and laity what the Churches actually teach as opposed to what the majority of the laity believes they teach. We emphasize the differences of explanation rather than the unity of belief, and we allow minor teachings to come between the bonds of mutual love and compassion which Christ commanded us.