Toni in Cerritos, California, listening on Immaculate Heart Radio, what's your
question for Karlo? Hi, yesterday I heard on Mother Miriam,
she was speaking with a woman that was Catholic, but that she
wasn't getting anything out of the homilies in the Catholic Church, so she
went to other parishes and didn't get anything so she left the Catholic Church.
And she was receiving Communion there, and also from a woman, receiving
Communion, in their church. And of course, Mother Miriam was saying that the reason
you go to church is not because of the homily, but that wasn't quite my question.
But she did say, Mother Miriam told her she had to go back to the Catholic
Church and that if she didn't, that she has lost her salvation; and that she
said that's in Hebrews 6. So I went to that, but I still don't understand that,
so is that true, any Catholic that leaves the Catholic Church loses their
salvation because they were given the true faith? Okay, well, it's a great
question Toni; we, since we didn't hear what Mother Miriam said we neither Karlo
or I will comment on Mother Miriam's position, but your question is
very clear about, can a Catholic lose their salvation, and particularly if
you leave the Catholic Church, have you lost your salvation? Yeah, the quick
answer to that, Cy, and for you, Toni, is, the short answer is no. We can't
make a blanket statement and say, "Just because..." let's say, Cy, I'm gonna use Cy
here for an example. It never works out for me when you use me for an example.
I'm always getting-- I have to have somebody to refer to, I have to have
some visuals here. Okay, so Toni, let's just say, hypothetically, let's say Cy
leaves the Catholic Church, okay, and he attends some other form of
Christianity. I can't say, in a blanket statement, "He's going to Hell
because he left the Catholic Church!" You're gonna want to, cause it's me. But
you're not gonna say it. Now Toni, here's what I can say: I can say that his choice
to separate himself from the Catholic Church, objectively speaking--getting
to those three conditions of mortal sin, right? It's a grave serious act, right?
That's a grave matter, to leave the Catholic Church and join another
Christian group. But Toni, what I can't say is that his soul is damned and going
to Hell, precisely because I don't know whether or not Cy has full knowledge
and/or full deliberate consent. That applies to the soul, Toni, and only God
has access to the soul and knowing whether or not Cy would have full
knowledge or full deliberate sin. Now we can say, on an objective level, IF--and
that's a key word right there, hypothetically--IF Cy would leave the
Catholic Church, which is a grave, serious offense, WITH full knowledge, WITH
full deliberate consent, then his soul would be lost. And if he would persist in
that state until death, Hell would be his eternal destiny. But whether or not that
applies to an individual human being such as Cy or Nick over there in the
room or any other person, right, we can't make that judgment. Even St. Paul would
talk about this; in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 he says, I'm not aware of
anything, basically, on my conscience, but I can't even judge myself; "for judgment
belongs to the Lord alone." So we have to make these distinctions, and I'm sure
Mother Miriam was making these distinctions, and maybe this got lost in
the translation there, in the communication; but we have to make these
distinctions between what we can say on an objective level--of what is a grave
offense, and if these conditions are met, Hell would be the destiny--and whether or
not those conditions are met for a particular individual. Is that helpful?
A little bit, it's just that I have two sisters
that were raised in the Catholic Church and they're now born-again Christian,
and they continue to say how...that it isn't the true presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist, and we don't have to pray to Mother Mary, and they don't have the Catholic faith, so
is that an awareness of rejecting the Catholic faith? Well, we don't know
for sure, we can't say for sure; we can say that, objectively speaking, these acts
are gravely offensive, right? Because, you know, visibly, in their words, they're
denying the Real Presence in the Eucharist and the intercessory role of
Mary; but it's very possible, Toni, that although they're speaking the words, it's
very possible that in their minds they're--they have a false understanding.
Like when they say, "Well we don't believe in asking Mary to pray for us." Okay, well,
Toni, when a Protestant usually says that, normally they don't understand Mary's
role of intercession as we do as Catholics. They're thinking, like our
previous caller, when we say we ask Mary to pray for us or we're praying to
Mary, they immediately interpret that to mean, well, we're saying she's part of the
Godhead. Well no, that's NOT what we mean. So many times, when a Protestant rejects
a particular doctrine of the Catholic faith, their understanding of it is
something we would reject as well. And these are elements that we simply cannot
know and we can't judge; only God can judge that. But Toni, we are responsible,
it is our duty and obligation, to share the truth and the meaning, the clear
meaning, of the mysteries of faith with our family members and friends so that
they can get a clearer understanding and experience the joy that the Lord wills
for them to experience in the Catholic faith. Amen brother, thanks Toni, I hope
that that helps.