The True Religion, the One Way of Salvation

Jesus is more than a great religious teacher, and his church is not merely one religious institution among many. Catholics believe that the church is the true religion, the one true way of salvation. All other religious figures and institutions are incomplete in comparison to the Catholic Church. How could they not be, if Jesus really is who he said he was, as Catholics believe?

The ancient religions of the world -- especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam -- contain much that is beautiful, noble, and true. And these religions, especially, continue to impel people to heights of holiness, wisdom, and love. Catholics believe that all that holy and true in these faiths is a gift of God, a reflection of the desire for God that he places in every human heart. But no matter how sublime the other religions of the world, only the Catholic Church contains all the gifts that God wants to bestow on his children. Only the church can bring us to divine life...

This is, after all, what Jesus taught. He said that no one can go to the Father except through him. To be saved we have to be born again of water and Spirit in baptism. To have eternal life we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood in the Eucharist. Salvation, as our Lord revealed it, means meeting him in his church, which he established to continue his saving presence in history.

However, whom Jesus saves may not be limited to those we see being baptized and made a part of the Catholic Church. Those whom Jesus saves, those who are really "in" the church, remain a secret known only to God. "In the ineffable forethought of God, many who appear to be outside are within, while many who seem to be within are without --- the Lord knows his own," Augustine once observed.

Catholic Passion by David Scott

This is why we can be ecumenical while simultaneously believing that the Catholic Church is the one true path.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity