Do Catholics think they have the only Saints of God as a Member of their, Group?

Answer 1

No, Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Episcopal Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief that all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints. You, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

With love and prayers in Christ.

Answer 2

The concept of sainthood in the Catholic Church is a complex and often misunderstood one. Most people only think of the "official" (meaning cannonized by the Pope) saints when in fact, it is a much larger group.

The idea of saints began as a local devotional practice. When a member of a Christian community who was respected for his or her wisdom and faith died, people believed that the person was closer to God than they were and would often pray to that person to intercede to God on their behalf. A lot of this is almost a primative form of "what would Jesus do" except instead of Jesus as the model, it was someone people knew personally. Over time, people would attribute miracles (especially healing) to the intercessions of the deceased. The formal institution of the Church got on board with this and began formally recognizing people for their piety and good works.

The interesting thing about this is that there is a line of theological thought that puts us ALL in the community of saints by virtue of our baptism. Another line of thought states that sainthood is achieved by truly being in the presence of God.

All this to say, I don't think it is accurate to say that Catholics believe that they have the only saints. After all, how many ordinary people have lived good lives and died and will never be recognized by the Vatican? And I don't just mean Christians.

Thank you for asking such a good question!

Answer 3

--Is Catholic--

Dogmatically, one does not need to be a member of the Church Militant (ie the Church on Earth) in order to get to heaven.

Dogmatically, if one is in heaven, one is a Saint.

Dogmatically, all people in heaven are members of the Church Triumphant.

Dogmatically then, all Saints are Catholic, but they might not have been Catholic on earth.

For example, the Catholic Church teaches that Moses, King David, Noah, and Adam and Eve are Saints, even though they were never Catholic. In the case of Noah, Adam, and Eve, they were never even a part of Israel, yet they are counted as officially as Saints.

The Catholic Church hopes that all people might be saved, even though she knows that there will be people who will not be saved. To this end, the Catholic Church recommends and encourages the prayers for the salvation and "sainthood" of deceased non-Catholics, and especially those who do not have anyone to pray for them.

Answer 4

unfortunately as with most religions , each religion believes that all that is good belongs to there religion only.