catholic teachings?

Question

i asked a similar question earlier but was missunderstood
according to catholic teachings what is the official teaching on Protestant Denominations and heaven. i have been to mass and i thought i hear the preist say something on the hand of "lord we pray for our Protestant brothers may they come back to your church(catholic) and walk in the fullness of your love again".

if you dont "walk in the fullness of christ" doesnt that mean you are going to hell
at that time i was lutheran now i am agnostic, but i am asking if i heard right and if i am drawing the conclusion right

i am NOT asking if you agree with this dogma i am just asking if it exists

Answer 1

From a Catholic point of view, Protestants have rejected parts but not all of the fullness of Jesus' Church as practiced by Catholics.

Some of these "fuller" elements are the Pope, the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the Communion of Saints.

However this partial rejection of God's gifts does not condemn Protestants to hell.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements. Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him.

However we consistly pray for the unity of the Body of Christ, that someday all Christians will come together and worship, give thanks, and share Communion at the same table.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I don't know who made that one up, the local pastor or what. It sounds similar to, but is not, the same prayer I have heard that expresses the desire for God to heal the divisions among His followers so that we can live in the Love for each other and unity in Him that Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper. Not walking 'in the fullness of Christ' - most of the Protestant Churches have dropped certain things when they left the Catholic Church, either belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, or some of the books of the Bible, or some of the traditions that have been handed down from the Early Church,, so they are said not to have the 'fullness of the faith'. Pope John Paul II, the Great, spend much time and effort on ecumenism, and taught that if a person has not rejected a belief that s/he knows is true, but really just doesn't know it,, then there is a difference, and the person is not responsible for what s/he really can't know,, and so is not headed for hell on that account. Sin is purposeful, mistakes are not purposeful.
So, it appears that you did not hear right, or that that particular person didn't get it right, and your conclusion was not right either.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church has held the teaching that it has the fullness of the Truth that it has been handed down from Apostolic times.

When the split in the 16th century happened, the Protestants cut themselves off from the Church. The Church is Christ's Body, and Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ.

You can think of it this way...If you have rejected the Body of Christ, the Church, you are separated from it. You might have some resemblance to it, but you are no longer in it.
By rejecting the Church, you have rejected the Holy Spirit who is the person in the Holy Trinity that has guided the Church since Pentecost.
And because of this separation, it has become a rejection of the Holy Spirit. And whoever denies the Holy Spirit sins against it and cannot be forgiven.

Remember that Jesus came to establish His Church, not His Churches.

Answer 4

The dictionary will tell you that a Protestant is a follower of any of the other Christian Churches that split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th Century.

I was taught as a child that anyone outside the Roman Catholic Church was lost and misguided and we prayed for them. We were further led to believe that they would not enter the Kingdom of heaven and the only alternative was Hell.

I think that today it would be most unusual for the Catholic Churches to practice this teaching or openly suggest that they would suffer that fate.

Answer 5

I won't swear that the words are the same, but yes, we Catholics often pray that our "separated brothers and sisters in Christ" will return to the fullness of the Church.

We also believe that ALL Christian denominations have some elements of Truth to them, but only the Catholic Church contains the full teaching of Jesus and all 7 of the sacraments that Jesus instituted while on earth.

This is MY take on the RCC teaching of the protestant denominations. I can and will do some more research and see what I find. I will edit my answer if I find something additional or different.

Peace be with you.

Answer 6

I answered earlier but I guess the subtlety of a single word slipped by

They teach that Protestants do not experience the Fullness of the FAITH (FAITH) meaning all of the liturgy, 7 sacraments instead of 2 and so on. No one has ever said or teaches they do not have the Fullness of JESUS.

Much to the dismay of the many Catholic hating Protestant denominations... Catholics view them as merely "separated brothers and sisters" and recognizes that if they acknowledge Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity they are Christians in grace.

A minor but important difference. Your understanding is not correct.

P.S. To POOH BEAR: (who wrote the book below)

I must make a small correction to your final statement, which read:
The Protestant Church generally embraces the Bible as its sole source of authority and faith, while the Catholic Church views the post-biblical traditions of the church and its Popes to have more than equal authority with scripture.

I have to change where you said; ...the Catholic Church views the POST-Biblical traditions of the church and its Popes...etc...

The Catholic Church follows the authority of scripture and the Traditions (capitol T as opposed to small "t"....there is a difference...look it up) which are NOT POST but PRE Biblical. All Bible New Testament was orally passed on for decades before being written. And Jesus never wrote a single book. All of His teaching was Oral. John even tells us in his final verse of his Gospel that if all the things Jesus did and said were written in books the whole world could not hold them all. Oral Tradition of the Church is extremely important. And it started in the 1st Century with Christ and the original 12 Apostles

Answer 7

My understanding is that the RC church teaches that Protestants are now "seperated brethren".

"Walk in fullness of Christ" indicates that Protestants have part of the truth of the teachings of Christ, but not all of the truth (as compared to the RC church).

I am a protestant by the way.
Cordially,
John

Answer 8

the bibile says in ephesians 4:
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So, it's the edifivcation, the building up of the body of christ by means of prophets, evangelists, etc that will bring us up to the measure of christ, as a BODY!

So no, that has nothing to do with your salvation. However, I know that Catholics and protestants have been fighting for years! But the bible is clear that unity in the church is key.

Answer 9

it's a good thing that you are not jumping to conclusions and immediately judging the catholic church. I must say that I am no scholar on the matter but the impression that I have gotten from my church, religous ed. and such, (I'm a Catholic) is that we believe in unity among christians, regardless of religion. What the priest said in you question is completely wrong from what I've been taught. It may be just his own thoughts.

Answer 10

lol I really dont know what the priest meant by protestants coming back to the Roman catholic church. After all it isnt the church that saves it is Christ that saves. So how does the priest explain that God choses his people to serve and worship Him, not the Roman catholic church, which incidentally dont worship Christ but Mary. Like Christ told his disciples "I chose you, you did not choose me."