Leave
the Church - No Salvation
Richard Salbato
1-10-2007
It is sad for me to write this
newsletter. Twenty-Five years ago I read a message from Our Lady to Myrna in
I was most impressed with Pope John Paul II’s document, Ut Unum Sint. In this document he appealed to all those who had left the Church to sit down and talk about what divides us. Knowing that the main cause of divisions is the very concept of the “Pope of Rome” and his authority, he even offered to dialogue on this subject and perhaps use other ways to exercise this authority. After writing “Ut Unum Sint” he even went so far as to restrain himself from exercising his authority over the bishops and priests within the Catholic Church so as not to give the Orthodox and Protestants undo fears of his authority.
In Vatican II everything possible was done to appeal to Schismatics to return to the Catholic Church except to change doctrine. This was most apparent in the semantics of words used at Vatican II: words like “Separated Brethren” instead of “Schismatics”, or “holding to some truths of the faith” instead of “Heretic”. But these do not change doctrine.
“In matters of faith, compromise is in contradiction with God who is Truth. In the Body of Christ, the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), who would consider legitimate a reconciliation brought about at the expense of the truth?” (Pope John Paul II, encyclical Ut Unum Sint, 18)
In the beginning, like all
traditionalists, I was upset at the changes, especially the Liturgy. But in
those days I knew that all of these popes had read the Third Secret of Fatima. I
thought that it might have something to do with the Schismatics because of Our
Lady’s statement to Myrna in
One thing all these popes knew,
all Catholic Historians knew, and all Catholic Theologians knew is that the one
thing that divides Christians is the seat of
http://www.unitypublishing.com/damascus.html
I also wrote THE POPE, A SIGN OF DIVISION OR A SIGN OF UNITY, to prove that even in the first five Centuries of the Church everyone knew that the Pope was the voice of Christ on earth and the ultimate authority even when going against all the bishops of the world. No one argued this point until 1054 AD.
http://www.unitypublishing.com/godskingdom/peter2.html
The greatest examples I gave in
this booklet were the many Councils that approved things almost unanimously and
the Pope vetoed it, including
Some people, however, instead of understanding that these things in Vatican II were only semantics, only words, and not changes to Catholic Teachings or Dogma, openly apposed these changes towards dialogue with non-Catholics. A Separated Brethren is still a Schismatic, and one holding to some truths but not all is still a Heretic. Those apposed to the Holy Father and Vatican II are new Schismatics and new Heretics now called the Traditionalists.
They are no different than the Orthodox or the Protestants because their main reason for separation is the authority of the Holy Father. An example of this is the Society of Saint Pius X. By denying that the Holy Father has this authority they deny the greatest of all traditions, the authority of the Holy Father of Rome. To help them return to the Church, I wrote The Old Latin Mass.
http://www.unitypublishing.com/liturgy/OldLatinMass.htm
Other Traditionalists admit the
authority of
http://www.unitypublishing.com/godskingdom/Sedivicanti.html
These people are also Schismatics.
Now we have a new group who completely change a 2000 year old doctrine on No Salvation outside the Church called Feeneyites, and in so doing they have lost Salvation as I will show below. Regarding this doctrine I have already posted the truth about it confronting errors on the left and the right of this truth. This document includes all the errors regarding Salvation outside the Church by liberals and conservatives.
http://www.unitypublishing.com/godskingdom/NoSalvationBrian.html
The teaching on no salvation outside the Church has never changed and has always included baptism of desire or baptism of Blood.
Justin Martyr
We have been
taught that Christ is the first-begotten of God, and we have declared him to be
the Logos of which all mankind partakes [John 1:9]. Those, therefore, who lived according to reason [Greek, logos} were
really Christians, even though they were thought to be atheists, such as,
among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and others
like them. . . . Those who lived before Christ but did not live according to
reason [logos] were wicked men, and enemies of Christ, and murderers of those
who did live according to reason [logos], whereas those who lived then or who
live now according to reason [logos] are Christians. Such as
these can be confident and unafraid (First Apology 46 [A.D. 151]).
But this does not hold true for those who have been in the Catholic Church and then left it as the Traditionalists have done. They could have worked within the Church but chose not to.
Cyprian of
“The baptism of public witness [desire] and of
blood cannot profit a heretic [one who holds the faith and then abandons it]
unto salvation, because there is no salvation outside the Church.” (Letters 72 [73]:21
[A.D. 253]).
When you look at the old
Schismatics or the new Schismatics they all justify schism by claiming that the
Church of Rome is in heresy. But what is
heresy except to hold a view on faith different from
In fact not a few popes held to questionable doctrines but never taught them or enacted them. A pope kissing the Koran can be called imprudent but not heresy. A modern Mass can be called irreverent but not heresy. I can judge a pope in his actions or even in Canons and I can have my opinions on these things but only the Pope can judge what is heresy or what is not.
Those who have left the Catholic Church, at least the first generation of them cannot make it to heaven. Those who know what the Catholic Church teaches but choose to ignore these teachings or refuse to know them cannot make it to Heaven. Those who pick and choose what to believe in the bible (Fundamentalists) cannot make it to Heaven. Those who hold to some known truths but reject other known truths cannot make it to Heaven. Does this contradict what the Holy Father says, that our separated brethren have some truths in common with us and therefore are brethren? Not at all! He is not saying that they will go to Heaven, but only that they are separated brethren holding to some truths in common with us.
There may be some second or third or forth generations of people who through no fault of their own and seeking the truth have not discovered the true and only Church within the Protestant Churches and could be saved by Christ but I doubt it. I don’t discount the possibility but do not think in fact it happens except maybe to children who are at least baptized and have no other reference to truth.
Leave the
Church – Go To Hell
It is true that some heresy held without knowledge can be excused but a public and deliberate Schism like Traditionalists have done cannot be justified. I am sad for them because unless they return to the unity with the pin of the Catholic Church, the Pope, they cannot be saved.
St. Ignatius of
Be not
deceived, my brethren: If anyone follows a maker of schism [i.e., is a schismatic], he does not inherit the
St. Irenaeus
In the Church
God has placed apostles, prophets, teachers, and every other working of the
Spirit, of whom none of those are sharers who do not conform to the Church, but
who defraud themselves of life by an evil mind and even worse way of acting.
Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is,
there is the Church and all grace (Against Heresies 3:24:1 [A.D. 189]).
St. Irenaeus
[The spiritual
man] shall also judge those who give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the
love of God, and who look to their own special advantage rather than to the
unity of the Church; and who for trifling reasons, or any kind of reason which
occurs to them, cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ,
and so far as in them lies, destroy it — men who prate of peace while they give
rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. For they can bring about no
"reformation" of enough importance to compensate for the evil arising
from their schism. . . . True knowledge is that which consists in
the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church
throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of
Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed
down that Church which exists in every place [i.e., the Catholic Church]
(ibid., 4:33:7-8).
Origen
There was never
a time when God did not want men to be just; he was always concerned about
that. Indeed, he always provided beings endowed with reason with occasions for
practicing virtue and doing what is right. In every generation the Wisdom of
God descended into those souls which he found holy and made them to be prophets
and friends of God (Against Celsus 4:7 [A.D.
248]). [How God saves people outside the Catholic Church]
If someone from
this people wants to be saved, let him come into this house so that he may be
able to attain his salvation. . . . Let no one, then, be
persuaded otherwise, nor let anyone deceive himself: Outside of this
house, that is, outside of the Church, no one is saved; for, if anyone should go out of it, he is guilty of his own death (Homilies
on Joshua 3:5 [A.D. 250]).
St. Cyprian of
Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined
to an adulteress [a schismatic church] is separated
from the promises of the Church, nor will he that forsakes the
Let them not
think that the way of life or salvation exists for them, if they have refused
to obey the bishops and priests, since the Lord says in the book of
Deuteronomy: "And any man who has the insolence to refuse to listen to the
priest or judge, whoever he may be in those days, that man shall die"
[Deut. 17:12-13]. And then, indeed, they were killed with the sword . . . but
now the proud and insolent are killed with the sword of the Spirit, when they are cast out from the Church.
For they cannot live outside, since
there is only one house of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone
except in the Church (Letters 61[4]:4 [A.D. 253]).
St. Lactanius
It is,
therefore, the Catholic Church alone that retains true worship. This is the
fountain of truth; this, the domicile of faith; this, the
Heretics bring
sentence upon themselves since they by their own choice withdraw from the
Church, a withdrawal which, since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation.
Between heresy and schism there is this difference: that heresy involves
perverse doctrine, while schism
separates one from the Church on account of disagreement with the bishop.
Nevertheless, there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify
its departure from the Church (Commentary on Titus 3:10-11 [A.D.
386]).
We believe also
in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church. For heretics violate the
faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations,
although they believe the same things we do. Consequently; neither heretics
nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church, not
heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics,
because the Church loves neighbor (Faith and the Creed 10:21 [A.D.
393]).
When we speak of within and without in relation to the Church, it is the
position of the heart that we must consider, not that of the body. . . All who are within in heart are saved in the unity of the ark (On
Baptism, Against the Donatists 5:28[39] [A.D.
400]).
[Again here
Augustine speaks of Baptism of Desire – the heart]
St. Ignatius of
Follow your
bishop, every one of you, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father.
Obey your clergy too as you would the apostles; give your deacons the same
reverence that you would to a command of God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken by anyone
without the bishop’s sanction. The sole Eucharist you should consider valid
is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself, or by some person authorized
by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as,
wherever Jesus Christ is present, there is the Catholic Church (Letter to
the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).
In like manner
let everyone respect the deacons as they would respect Jesus Christ, and just
as they respect the bishop as a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the
council of God and college of the apostles. Without these, it cannot be called a Church. I am confident that
you accept this, for I have received the exemplar of your love and have it with
me in the person of your bishop. His very demeanor is a great lesson and his
meekness is his strength. I believe that even the godless do respect him (Letter
to the Trallians 3:1-2 [A. D. 110]).
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
When finally he
concluded his prayer, after remembering all who had at any time come his way –
small folk and great folk, distinguished and undistinguished, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world –
the time for departure came. So they placed him on an ass, and brought him into
the city on a great Sabbath (The Martyrdom of Polycarp
8 [A.D. 110]).
St. Irenaeus
The Catholic
Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have
already said (Against Heresies
1:10 [A.D. 189]).
St. Irenaeus
Since therefore
we have such proofs, it is not necessary
to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church;
since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in
her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man,
whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to
life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account we are bound to avoid
them, but to make choice of the things pertaining to the Church with the utmost
diligence, and to lay hold of the tradition of the truth. For
how stands the case?
Suppose there should arise
a dispute relative to some important question among us. Should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the
apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and
clear in regard to the present question? [
For how should
it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be
necessary [in that case] to follow the course of the tradition which they
handed down to those to whom they did commit the churches? (ibid.
3:4).
Tertullian
Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of
St. Cyprian
The spouse of
Christ cannot be defiled; she is uncorrupted and chaste. She knows one home . .
. Does anyone believe that this unity which comes from divine strength, which
is closely connected with the divine sacraments, can be broken asunder in the
Church and be separated by the divisions of colliding wills? He who does not hold this unity, does not
hold the law of God, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does
not hold life and salvation (On the
Unity of the Catholic Church 6 [A.D. 251]).
Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be
built,
teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and
arrogant multitude of those who will not hear or obey may depart, yet the
Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people
united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you
ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop;
and if any one be not with the bishop,
that he is not in the Church [Rome’s Bishop], and that those flatter
themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think
that they communicate secretly with some; while
the Church which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed
connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one
another (Letters 66 [A.D. 253]).
St. Irenaeus
Matthew also
issued among the Hebrews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter
and Paul were evangelizing in
St. Irenaeus
But since it
would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the successions of all
the Churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether
through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked
opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the
successions of the bishops of the
greatest and most ancient Church known to all, founded and organized at Rome
by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, that Church which has the
tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to
men by the Apostles. For with this
Church, because of its superior origin, all Churches must agree, that is, all
the faithful in the whole world; and it is in her that the faithful everywhere
have maintained the Apostolic tradition (Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D.
189]).
St. Cyril of
[Simon Magus]
so deceived the City of
St. Damasus
The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the
Apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor anything
like it. (The Decree of Damasus 3 [A.D. 382]).
Happy in these divisions
As Our Lady said, those who
are content in divisions are sinning. This speaks mostly about the Orthodox who
do not consider divisions as sinful. This statement also condemns Pluralists, who
think there are many paths to Heaven. I
could say a lot about these two groups but any separation from the Holy Father
is a path to Hell. This can also be said
about Traditionalists with a capital T but not about traditionalists like me,
who work within the Church.
I say that Traditionalists
with a capital T, those who have left the Church, are demonic because demonic
means to divide. When the Orthodox split
from the Church in the Eleventh Century we had to fight the Moslem invasions
alone, without a unified Church. When
the Protestants split from the Church in the 16th Century we had to
fight the final battle with Moslems alone, without a unified Church.
Now we are about to have
the biggest war in history, World War III, and again we have divided Christians
and even more divided now since the Traditionalists on one side of the body of
Christ pull on His right arm, and the ultra-liberals pull on His lift arm,
ripping the Body of Christ apart. The
Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the
Rick Salbato