For Those Who
Consider
Themselves
Catholic
My dear soul, it’s great that you want to think yourself
Catholic. Not everyone is like you. Most people nowadays are content to
consider themselves another
religion entirely. The only catch is… are
you really what you say you are? Words, after all, mean something. And the
word ‘catholic’ has meant something in particular for nearly 2000
years, a meaning essentially unchanged for that span of time.
Think about it. Could you talk about humans, or the earth, or even
baseball, and have the meaning change in some essential way and actually be
talking about the same thing
after the meaning changed? Of course not. What if, after a thousand years, you
meant ‘ape’ by ‘human’, or ‘moon’ by
‘earth’, or ‘basketball’ by
‘baseball’. What then? After this dramatic shift could anyone
mention humans, the earth or baseball and truly mean humans, the earth
or baseball?
Or would not
they be talking about apes, the moon or basketball instead?
It doesn’t take a brainiac to
realize this. Words must stay the same in essential meaning or else real
communication about the things you’re trying to talk about won’t
take place. If the word changes in meaning too much then either no real
communication is possible about that particular thing or else a new word must
be found that communicates an identical meaning and hence translation occurs.
So, do you mean the same thing by ‘catholic’ that the
Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ meant by that word when they first used it in
the ancient Greek language of their times as the official title of Jesus’
Singular & Unique Church way back in the first century almost two millennia
ago?
Or have you come
to mean something very, very different by it in the last few decades?
This isn’t whistling
A simple test to see that this is true is the following:
Did you --- just above where I mentioned the Singular & Unique
Church of Jesus Christ as spoken of by His Twelve Apostles in the first century
--- automatically assume that Catholicism didn’t
exist back then? Or that Roman Catholicism was something very, very different at that time from
what you suppose it to have become a few centuries later after Emperor
Constantine?
Would that be a ‘yes’?
Then guess what… you aren’t truly Catholic!
Because whether or not you personally want to believe in it,
Catholics up until the mid-1900s had always professed belief in their
So what Catholic
Church are you talking about in contrast to the Catholic Church that they
were talking about up until the Second
Are the two of you talking about the same thing?
Obviously not. The word ‘catholic’
has changed meaning during the last fifty years.
This change involves a lot of details. But it revolves around one
very simple fact --- the dogma of
‘no Salvation outside the Church’. Up until the 20th
century all Roman Catholics believed
(or at least paid lip service to) in the perpetual teaching that no one could
save his soul outside visible membership in this Utterly Unique Church of Roman
Catholicism. And they thought this for a very simple reason --- because the Roman Catholic Church is Jesus Christ’s Body.
That is to say, they knew, unquestioningly, that Christ’s Ecclesial Body
was exactly identical to the Roman Catholic Church, no ifs, ands or
buts.
Absolute equivalence, no exceptions.
Period.
That is no longer true today. That is to say, most people calling
themselves ‘catholic’ no longer believe that a human being must die
visibly in the membership of the Roman Catholic Church to save his soul. And
they think this for a very stark reason --- because
they don’t think the Catholic Church is Jesus Christ’s One &
Only Ecclesial Body on earth.
In their minds (if they’ve even thought about it very
deeply), God is pleased with anyone and everyone regardless of his
religion…. just as long as he ‘tries his best’, being
‘sincere’ about his beliefs & behavior. That all religions
significantly contradict the Catholic Church bothers them not in the
least. That all of these religions can’t
possibly be equally true
never occurs to them, or strikes them as trivial. Religion, after all
(say they), is just men striving to grasp God --- not God deigning to reveal
Himself to men.
In short, formal religious beliefs are only so much fantasy, a mere
personal whim or ‘psychological bias’.
What really matters is being a ‘good person’, as modern people
define ‘good’ at any given moment in time. And yet, what is truly good, as God sees it? And what does someone actually do to
be good?
That Jesus in the Gospel tells us to ‘love God’
above all other things --- including above love of our neighbor --- is utterly
forgotten. That He also said the way to love Him is to obey His commandments isn’t even the faintest glimmer
of the most tenuous shadow of a hazy suspicion in their darkened minds.
I mean, think about it. If they did
suspect that being good is the same as loving God and that this is even more important than loving your
neighbor, being the way to obey His
commandments… then exactly what
would those commandments be? And could all religions --- every one of
which contradicts the others --- each
equally teach all of these crucial commandments that we must obey in
order to truly love God above all other things and so be good?
Not a chance.
Incidentally, my dear reader, if you don’t want to believe
what I say --- that Catholicism is unchanged
since the time of Jesus & His Apostles --- then read chapters fifteen to
thirty-three of Extra
Ecclesiam
Nulla
Salus
on this website. You may find it in the Books & Article section, easily
seen in the navigation panel to the left of this central frame. It goes into
detail from the records of history, quoting the words of men who lived long ago
and who saw for themselves what
existed back then in the first, second, third, fourth or fifth centuries AD
when it came to the Christian Religion. And what they saw, what they
describe in some detail in their very own words, is obviously Roman
Catholicism… and not anything else going by the name of ‘christian’ during the last few hundred years since
the Protestant Rebellion.
This is particularly plain when it comes to the Papacy. Real Catholicism
tells us a pope is infallible when he officially teaches the entire Church
something about faith or morals. Real Catholicism also tells us that the
legitimate Roman bishops have had supreme authority over the Catholic Church
since the very beginning, with St Peter in
And so it is. Chapters 15 to 33 of Extra
Ecclesiam
Nulla
Salus
are proof of this. And if the
Papacy existed all the way back then, essentially functioning just as it has in
our own times in the last century, then how can any man logically deny that
everything else the Catholic Church teaches is true, too? I mean, if Roman
bishops have God-Given Infallibility to uphold the Saving Truth and so prevent
damnation of souls through the deception of false religion, then how could anything the Papacy confirms
with an infallible authority be less than certainly true? That’s the point
of infallibility! To be sure that the Saving Truth is preserved untainted for
future generations to believe… and thus save their immortal souls.
Ergo, show the
existence of a fully functioning papacy from earliest times and you also affirm
with infallible certainty everything
else that this infallible papacy upholds in the Catholic Religion!
So what then? My dear soul, if you haven’t been truly
Catholic up till now, then you need to become Catholic as soon as possible.
There is no other way to save your precious soul.
And how do you do that?
First, make certain you know what the Catholic Faith teaches. A
good, thorough catechism is the best approach. You may find just such a
catechism on this website in the Profession & Abjuration section. It is
called The
English Catechism of 1583. I have enlarged and translated it from its
original text and archaic language. In any case, if you have questions about it
then write me. You may also learn about two of the most common mistakes people
who consider themselves Catholic make nowadays --- and why these mistakes are not
to be believed, thinking it’s ‘catholic’ to do so. I’ve
addressed both of them in the Letters & Admonishment section of The Epistemologic Works, found in
the navigation panel to the left. The first is entitled The
Catholic Church Is the Only Way to Save Your Soul, No Exceptions Admitted ---
and Here’s the Infallible Proof! The second is called Catholics
Are Forbidden to Worship With Those Who Are Not Catholic --- and This Is Where
the Catholic Church Has Said So! Out of all the writings on my site I
have given these two an exclamation point in the titles… and for
excellent reason, seeing as they are so very common and that both mistakes
violate a common dogma of the Roman Church, damning a precious soul in the
process.
Second, make sure you’re truly baptized. To wit, make sure
you’re baptized the way the Catholic Church says you’re supposed to
be baptized. Most people don’t think baptism is important. And those that
do baptize often don’t baptize correctly. That is to say, their baptism
is invalid. An invalid baptism will not save your soul, and must be corrected before you can have
real hope of entering Heaven. A valid water baptism occurs when, as an adult,
you freely consent to be baptized, and when --- whether as such a freely
consenting adult or as a child before you have a free will that you can
exercise --- the person baptizing sprinkles, pours or dunks water over the
crown of your forehead while, at the
same time, saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” For instance, Protestants who
baptize invalidly nowadays usually do so because they say the words first and
then, after saying these words,
dunk the person in water. If in doubt about your baptism’s validity, then
you can be baptized conditionally. Should you have questions in earnest
about it, then please contact
me.
And, third, if already baptized validly, then make sure you abjure
your heresy. A heresy contradicts the
teachings of the Catholic Church and will damn your soul. Abjuration officially
renounces this heresy. If you called
yourself ‘catholic’ but then discovered that you are not, then you
have believed a heresy. For instance, if you thought a person could die in any
religion and still get into Heaven, then you believed in the Salvation Heresy.
It is directly opposed to the Salvation Dogma --- namely, ‘no Salvation
outside the Catholic Church’. You would need to wholly reject this heresy
to become Catholic. How do you do so?
If we lived during normal times, you would go to the local parish
priest and ask him for help. He would catechize you properly, make sure
you’re baptized validly, and would arrange with the diocesan bishop to
receive your abjuration. Accordingly, a short written statement would be drawn
up that denounces any heresy you had believed and also includes a formal Profession
of Faith. Having signed this abjuration and made your profession, the bishop
would then lay his hands upon you in penance. That is to say, you would be
received back into the Church with the bishop absolving you of your grievous
sin of heresy. You would then be inside
the Catholic Church and within the
Hope of Salvation.
Unfortunately, though, these are not normal times. The Great Apostasy has erupted into the open and
people who are supposed to be Catholic are not truly Catholic.
This includes men who are supposed to be priests, bishops and even popes. They
are actually heretics & apostates. They have denied what the Catholic
Religion teaches. Invariably this denial revolves around the Salvation Dogma.
Since 1965 and the end of the Second Vatican Council, ostensible popes &
bishops have blatantly taught that human beings can die in the practice of a
false (read: non-Catholic) religion whilst ending up in Heaven.
This flies in the face of what Catholics have believed since the
beginning of the first millennium, as any honest historian knows. Sacred
Scripture of the New Testament makes it plain that Christ & His Apostles
taught a path to Salvation that is exclusive
to His Body, the Church, and the earliest Christian writers make this plain,
too, with no exceptions admitted. Yet
if any doubt exists, then we examine three of many infallible statements
of the Papacy regarding the entrance to Heaven, this one from 1302:
“Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain
that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with
simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of
sins... Therefore, if the Greeks [Eastern Schismatics,
who practice what is called ‘eastern orthodoxy’ in more recent
times] or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his
successors [that they are not subject to the Roman Papacy], they must confess
not being the sheep of Christ [admit that they aren’t truly Christians
since they aren’t truly followers of Christ], since Our Lord says in John
‘there is one sheepfold and one
shepherd.’ ...Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for
salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman
Pontiff.” [Pope Boniface VIII’s Unam sanctum, emphasis & annotation
added]
And we leap back to the 4th century where the Church in Her Third
Great Creed infallibly announces:
“Whoever wills to be saved, before all things, it is
necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith: which
Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without
doubt he shall perish everlastingly.” [Athanasian
Creed, Articles 1 & 2, all emphases added]
Then we leap forward to 1441 where the Council of Florence
infallibly declared:
“The most Holy Roman Catholic Church firmly believes,
professes, and preaches that none
of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but
also Jews, heretics and schismatics, can have a
share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which
was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are
joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this
ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can
receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other
works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as
great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the name of
Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the
Catholic Church.” [Pope Eugene IV’s Cantate domino, Paragraph 12, all emphases added]
Even the densest of brains can see these infallible statements for
what they are --- a narrow way to Salvation that brooks no exceptions, and which is
obviously Roman Catholic! The statements are simple and add no qualifications to change the
straightforward meaning of the original statements, as do the speeches &
writings, invariably, of those who call themselves ‘catholic’ in
the last half century. Now compare this to but three of many statements from
“Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His
Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to
do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.” [Second
Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, Paragraph 16, all emphases added]
Ah, so profession of the Catholic Faith isn’t actually necessary for Salvation in spite of what the Athanasian Creed says, according to
“We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation,
because Christ, who is the sole mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself
present for us in His body which is the Church. But the divine design of
salvation embraces all men, and those who
without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church,
but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His
will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in a number
known only to God, can obtain salvation.” [Paul VI’s Creed of
the People of God, Paragraph 26, all emphases added]
Oh… so somehow people must be
‘invisibly connected’ to the Roman Catholic Church without
an actual profession of the Catholic Faith, and actual submission to the Pope isn’t truly necessary for Salvation
after all, despite what Pope
Boniface VIII very plainly & infallibly stated at the beginning of
the 14th century! Yet
“This affirmation [outside the Church there is no Salvation]
is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know
Christ and his Church: ‘Those who, through no fault of their own, do
not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God
with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will
as they know it through the dictates of their conscience --- those too may
achieve eternal salvation… Although in ways known
to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are
ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to
please him...’” [John Paul II’s Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Paragraphs 847-8, which quote loosely from Vatican 2’s Lumen gentium, Paragraph 16,
and Ad gentes, Paragraph 7,
all emphases added]
The conclusion is clear. Since the Second
Vatican Council pretty much everyone going by the name of
‘catholic’ --- including those who are supposed to be priests,
bishops and popes --- has blatantly denied the Salvation Dogma as it was always understood by real Catholics
prior to the 20th century. They have done this by denying its
narrowness, a narrowness that all
real Catholics up until the 1900s knew it meant, whether they liked it or
not, the Church having warned us clearly & infallibly that there are no
exceptions to this rule. Moreover, a
dogma explicitly common to the Deposit of Faith since the time of Christ &
His Apostles. Hence, this Salvation Dogma must
be believed in order to be Catholic to begin with. Fail to know its
existence as it truly is… or fail to acknowledge its existence even if
you do know its perpetual meaning… and
you are not actually Catholic. And this is why the Roman Catholic Church has always striven to proclaim
its Gospel to everyone who will listen, because if people don’t actually know what the Church teaches then they cannot
possibly become Catholic and have real hope of salvation!
End of sentence.
So how is a person to abjure his
heresy, assuming he was baptized validly before he fell into heresy, when there
is no bishop with jurisdiction to receive it? One frequent notion is that you
write up an abjuration of your heresy on your own, sign it, and then become
Catholic. While a nice idea (there’s certainly nothing intrinsically
wrong with writing your own abjuration), the notion is fatally flawed. This is
because these folks make signing an abjuration a sacrament, instead of the obedience that it truly is.
Think about it. The Sacrament of
Baptism is what enters a human being into the Roman Catholic Body of Christ.
This is why even babies have to have water baptism in order to enter Heaven.
Then, if as an adult you fall into mortal sin, the Sacrament of Penance is what
restores you to the state of saving grace. This includes mortal sins against
the Catholic Faith --- to wit, heresy or schism. It’s only that, in the
case of heresy, the bishop necessarily reserves to himself the right to absolve
such sins since it is he who governs a diocese in the footsteps of an apostle,
and who must excommunicate or readmit into the unity of his local flock within
the Catholic Church. Ergo why the bishop lays his hands upon the penitent, baptized sinner who
abjures heresy and not one of his diocesan priests. It’s because a bishop
governs a diocese, and it’s his
responsibility to excommunicate or readmit the baptized souls in that diocese
--- and not a mere diocesan priest, who does not have the
authority to govern or excommunicate, etc.
Yet what if there’s no priest or
bishop to hear your confession? What then?
Ah… here’s where Sacred
Tradition helps us out, a sacred tradition that the Council of Trent affirms.
Because if there is no priest or bishop available, are we then condemned to
hellfire in the deadliness of our mortal sins with no escape or recourse to be
had?
Of course not. Any well-instructed man knows that a Catholic with perfect
contrition may confess his mortal sins directly to Heaven if there is no priest
or bishop to whom he may turn. For more information about this please go here.
The same goes for abjuration.
Abjuration is simply the confession and renunciation of a mortal sin against
the First Commandment, which is what heresy or schism amounts to. And because
this kind of mortal sin normally causes excommunication, for which the bishop
of your diocese is jurisdictionally responsible, then it is up to him,
normally, to receive you back into the communication
of the Catholic Church and so reverse the excommunication
which started your spiritual dilemma. Hence, if there is no bishop to whom you
may confess and renounce your heresy, then you are permitted to confess and
renounce your sin of heresy directly to Heaven, with perfect contrition,
begging forgiveness.
This is what readmits into the Communion of the Catholic Church
when there is no bishop available.
So what about a written
abjuration? What is that slip of paper all about?
It is a practical means of recorded testimony…
that’s all. Under normal circumstances, it must be done. That is what the
Church’s Canon Law requires. To refuse to do it under normal
circumstances is an act of grievous disobedience, a mortal sin. It is, in fact,
rebellion. And thus why it would cause one not to enter back
into the Catholic Church if someone said he wanted to abjure his heresy, but
was unwilling to sign the written abjuration that his diocesan bishop required
from him. It would be a clear indication that
this person is not serious, that rebellion still poisons his soul.
But under our abnormal circumstances? What then?
The situation is very different. For
instance, ask yourself a few questions:
Who gets to decide what an appropriate
abjuration is? And who collects these documents once they’re signed? Are
we to send copies to every Catholic we know or can find out about? What if that
amounts to hundreds --- even thousands or millions --- of Roman Catholics? Must
we send a copy to every single Catholic in this situation? And what if somebody
thinks our written abjuration is insufficient? What then? Who gets to say so, and how is anyone to know the correct opinion… if any?
Moreover, what if someone doesn’t know how to write? Or can’t
compose very well, or isn’t learned enough to have a theological
understanding of all the different kinds of heresy there are nowadays?
Then what?
My dear soul, this is where it gets
ridiculous. No one is required to be a learned theologian in order to save his
soul. And yet the person who originally came up with this notion --- that written
abjurations are absolutely necessary to salvation for baptized persons after
committing heresy --- has now created a gigantic, written, catch-all abjuration
for the Great Apostasy that, after several years in the making, is impossible
for the simple layman to comprehend. I in the flesh witnessed folks signing it,
who I know for a solid fact had no thorough understanding of what they were
signing and thus alleging themselves to spiritually in the eyes of this person.
They were babes in the wood and sitting ducks just waiting to get shot down by
him later on for all kinds of purported infractions against the Catholic Faith!
This is nonsense. And it appeals only
to other fundamentalist persons who can’t see the forest for the trees.
(You may learn about the danger of Catholic fundamentalism here.)
The bottom line is this:
The Catholic Church requires written
abjurations under normal circumstances because it is an excellent tool for
providing legal testimony as to what this person did in the eyes of the Hierarchy
of the Church. If not literate, literate witnesses can be provided to testify
by their signatures that the illiterate man did indeed attest to the written
abjuration, which was obviously read aloud for his convenience. The
bishop’s office keeps these documents within his diocese; there is no
need for endless copies to be provided for every single Catholic that exists.
Nor is there an exceedingly complicated abjuration composed --- the abjuration
used is either a standard one that is simple and to the point, or else it is
tailor made to suit the abjurer’s ability, knowledge & predicament.
We say again to drive it home:
A written abjuration is not a holy sacrament but is instead
an act of obedience to the practical dictates of
Case closed.
That said, my dear reader, we have but
one thing left to ask:
Are you, indeed, Catholic?
Or is it just a meaningless title, one
that no longer signifies what it used to signify?
If truly Catholic, then
I rejoice with you in the Hope of Salvation. Your reward is potentially great!
But if not, then I beg you… please do what it takes to become truly
Catholic. There is no other way to save your precious & immortal
soul.
I am here to help you if you need it.
But it’s up to you to do
what you need to do.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the
Immaculate Heart of Mary grant you the divine graces necessary to do so, and
may your guardian angel not let you rest until it’s accomplished. Yours
in celestial charity,
-Paul Doughton
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