CathInfo.com

Next, the Reply piece takes up the question of someone remaining outside the Church ever being saved. Again, it claims that those who are innocently outside the Church will all somehow be brought into the Church (or else they won't be saved, apparently), and that those who are not are therefore all of bad faith and ill will. It mentions a distinction between those who have not heard of the Catholic Church, versus those who have heard of it but for some innocent reason nevertheless fail to join it somehow, which latter category it seems to regard as fictitious or else some speculation of Fr. Donnelly, or of "liberals" in general.

    Now it is a fair question as to whether it is possible to have "heard of" the Catholic Church in some sense, but still not join it, and continue to be innocent. Many Protestant "Bible Belt" Christians were well aware that there existed "out there" somewhere something called the "Catholic Church," which they rejected as being just another denomination, and furthermore one seriously tainted with pagan beliefs and practices quite alien to Christianity. Can anyone truthfully say that each and every last one of them were all culpably and criminally distancing themselves from the Church and Faith? There most certainly seems to be a big difference between the Church's claims as taught by the Church versus how the Church would be presented by those who oppose it. For many of these Protestants, the "Catholic Church" is merely something that worships statues, sells indulgences, and burns its enemies at the stake. (Protestants often forget that Calvin burned his enemies and that the Salem Witch trials occurred within a Protestant community.) On the basis of knowing nothing of Catholicism but that, they should join it? Or even bother to listen to its own claims about itself? Would serious and sober representatives of the Catholic Church be so willing to recommend to the rank and file that they should take the time to listen to every other religious flake and oddball there is out there and decide for themselves who is right? The Rev. Fulton Sheen once commented:

    There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church - which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics "adore statues"; because they "put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God"; because they say "indulgence is a permission to commit sin"; because the Pope [Pius XI, at the time he penned these words] "is a Fascist"; because the "Church is the defender of Capitalism." If the Church taught or believed any one of these things it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do. (Preface to Radio Replies, Volume One, 1938)

    Certainly there is considerable room for invincible ignorance to take forms other than sheer physical separation from the preaching of the Gospel or else mental incompetence due to infancy or idiocy, though in balance I must also admit that one need not be terribly generous in speculating on excusing invincible ignorance existing in those too bigoted or prejudiced to look honestly and squarely at the actual teachings of the Church. And once again, the lack of contumacious or obstinate refusal on the part of infants who lose out on salvation because they happen to be unbaptized is brought in, with the subtle (unstated but intended) implication that others also who lack any contumacious or obstinate refusal to enter the Church will nevertheless be damned, and these, not being infants, with also the eternal pain of sense.

Folks you are in for a special treat!  A truly "native" dish.....ignoramus hash and baked speculation cakes.   This combination allows you to wonder and not know simultaneously. A marvelous experience.   :ready-to-eat: