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I dont' believe St. Robert would have used the term soul, as many later believed that he was so insistent upon Church as visible society that it was almost to a fault.

He actully limited the possibility of BoD to catechumens, since they were at least to some extent visibly united to the Church, and he described them as being "in the vestibule of the Church".

While at another he taught that members needed to meet ALL FOUR criteria for membership, it almost sounded as if he implicitly held some notion of a partial membership sufficing for salvation, i.e. where even if you weren't united to the Church in the Sacraments, you still professed the truth faith.

"Again, some might be in the soul of the Church and not in the body, such as Catechumens or the excommunicated if they might have faith and charity, which can happen."

--St Robert, De Controversiis (specifically De Ecclesia Militante, Book III, Chapter 2)

There's various levels of doubt.  Ladislaus was responding to you as if you're guilty of voluntary doubt, because what you said, wasn't clear.  And also, since you've left Catholicism for Orthodoxy, the presumption is that you have major doubts on doctrine.  Your situation is unclear.

Involuntary doubt (not sinful) -- Hesitation, difficulty understanding Church teachings, or anxiety and struggle to overcome objections.

Cultivating doubt (sinful) -- If you let involuntary doubt fester and intentionally refuse to look for answers or pray about it, you cross into "failing to protect your faith," which can also become sinful. To prevent doubt from leading you away from God, the best approach is to be proactive.

Voluntary doubt (grave sin) -- The deliberate choice to disregard, refuse, or dismiss what God has revealed and the Church teaches. It is a willful refusal to assent to the truth.



Might I ask, why did you switch to Orthodoxy?  Was it for the liturgy and a less/chaotic situation (i.e. no V2 vs Tradition)?  Or did you switch because you don't like a particular catholic doctrine?

I was asking about my situation in the past, when I was in fact Catholic. I obviously expect everyone here to think I’m a heretic now, and I’m not offended by this (by your own metrics, you should think this) but I’m wondering more about the past situation where I was in the Catholic Church but still wasn’t sure if Catholicism or Orthodoxy was true.  I’m curious if lad would agree with the distinction you made, if accurate, it would answer the question I asked

I hesitate to say too much about why I converted to Orthodoxy here, because I respect the rules of the forum, I joined on the (at the time true) assertion that I accepted all the teachings of the (Roman) Catholic Church, and I no longer do.  I appreciate that Matthew has allowed me to stay here and occasionally ask a question when I have one.  I explicitly do not and do not intend to proselytize here

but in short I don’t find papal infallibility/universal jurisdiction to be defensible, and everything else sort of stems from that.  Orthodoxy is also a bit vaguer so doesn’t strain credulity quite as much yet doesn’t have the same issues as Protestantism (from my perspective.). I’m not on here much anymore but if you wanna discuss more you can DM me.  I’m not gonna say more on the forums for the above stated reason