THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS
THE ONLY ARK OF SALVATION
November, 2006
Dear Friends and
Benefactors of the Society in Ireland,
In the
manner of a grand mystical overture, the Militant Church on earth
starts the month of November with the liturgical celebration of All
Saints and All Souls, praying to the Triumphant Church in Heaven and
offering suffrages for the Suffering Church in Purgatory.
The
solemnities of the beginning of November must be an occasion for us
to remember that by our baptism,
the profession of the
apostolic faith,
and the communion with
the Successor of Peter,
we are "no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God, built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, being framed
together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord; in whom we
also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit."
(Ephesians II, 19-22)
But
what is this "habitation of God in the Spirit" which transcends the
boundaries of time and space, uniting all the faithful in the
communion of saints by the link of perfect charity? It is the
Catholic Church, the only Church of Jesus Christ our Saviour. The
saints in Heaven, the souls in Purgatory proclaim to those who are
still on the way to the Father's house that sublime dogma of our
faith: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful,
outside which no one at all is saved." (Fourth Lateran Council)
The popes since St. Peter himself repeat this truth, nowadays
obscured when not evacuated by the innovators, and I think it is
relevant to propose some short texts of the
Magisterium for your meditation
these days.
Pope Leo XII (1823-1829), Encyclical Ubi Primum: "We profess
that there is no salvation outside the Church. For the Church is the
pillar and ground of the truth...With reference to those words
Augustine says: 'If any man be outside the Church he will be
excluded from the number of sons, and will not have God for Father
since he has not the Church for mother.'"
Pope
Gregory XVI (1831-1846), Encyclical Summo Jugiter: "It is not
possible to worship God truly except in Her; all who are outside Her
will not be saved."
Blessed
Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), Encyclical
Singulari Quadam:
"It must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church,
no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he
who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood".
Pope Leo
XIII (1878-1903), Encyclical Annum Ingressi Sumus: "This is
Our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of
you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in
the Church." And in his Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae:
"He scatters and gathers not who gathers not with the Church and
with Jesus Christ, and all who fight not jointly with Him and with
the Church are in very truth contending against God."
Pope Saint
Pius X (1903-1914), Encyclical Jucunda Sane: "It is Our duty
to recall to everyone great and small, as the Holy Pontiff Gregory
did in ages past, the absolute necessity which is ours, to have
recourse to this Church to effect our eternal salvation."
Pope
Benedict XV (1914-1922), Encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum:
"Such is the nature of the Catholic faith that it does not admit of
more or less, but must be held as a whole, or as a whole rejected:
This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully
and firmly, he cannot be saved."
Pope Pius
XI (1922-1939), Encyclical Mortalium Animos: "The Catholic
Church alone is keeping the true worship. This is the font of truth,
this is the house of faith, this is the temple of God; if any man
enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to
the hope of life and salvation."
Pope Pius
XII (1939-1958), Allocution to the Gregorian University (17 October
1953): "By divine mandate the interpreter and guardian of the
Scriptures, and the depository of Sacred Tradition living within
her, the Church alone is the entrance to salvation: She alone, by
herself, and under the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit,
is the source of truth."
Pope Paul
VI (1963-1978), Credo of the People of God (30 June 1968): "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."
This is the
Catholic faith which we profess. The faith of Mary, Mother of God,
not Mother of Allah. The doctrine of the Apostles, not the teachings
of the Buddha. The faith of the martyrs and the confessors, not the
beliefs of those who put them to death or in chains. The faith of
our fathers, to which by the grace of God we will be true till
death. And let us not forget... "the greatest of these three is
charity" (I Corinthians, XIII, 13).
*
Remember
with us especially during the month of November the souls of Father
Michael McGrath (+2006), of Father Marc Van Es (+1996), and all our
deceased faithful, friends, and benefactors. Your prayers and
sacrifices are requested for two young and generous Irishmen who
entered last month our seminary of Flavigny, in France, and the
Brother's novitiate of Zaitzkofen, in Germany;
also for one of our young ladies who entered the novitiate of the
Sisters of the Cenacle, Velletri, Italy. Prayers as well for
our Irish seminarians Rev. Mr. David Sherry, who God willing will be
ordained priest in Econe, Switzerland, next June 2007, and Mr.
Annraoi Buckley, who is doing his year of apostolate in Gabon,
Africa. Oh Lord, grant to Ireland many holy priests and many holy
religious vocations!
Families
with children can now take advantage of the monthly Catechism Day
and the Eucharistic Crusade Day in Athlone. In St. John's we have
started a Catechism for teenagers, and the St. John's Circle for
young adults, meeting every Sunday after the parochial mass.
Remember
that you are all invited to attend entirely or partially the monthly
Day of Recollection, held every First Saturday at St. John's except
the cold months (January-April).
I think
that we will attain within the next days the goal of 30,000 rosaries
to add to the spiritual bouquet that the Society will present to
Pope Benedict XVI in a few weeks. May Our Lady reward you!
I have
appointed Father Greig Gonzales as curate of Our Lady of the Rosary
of Fatima Church in Cork, and of St. Joseph's Mass Centre in Tralee,
effective January 1st, 2007. Ad multos annos
with us, dear
Father!
And may
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph bless with abundant graces your families,
just as your grateful priests in Ireland bless you every day,
Father Ramón
Anglés
