Living Among The Unbaptized

Over thirty "Protestant" denominations do not baptize or do not baptize in the only true form, that of the Trinity-"I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Baptism in the Name of Jesus is not valid, nor accepted in the Catholic Church as baptism.

Some denominations merely "dedicate" their children, babies to Christ and expect the adult to decide whether to be baptized or not.

Now, there is a generation (or two) of adults who have never been baptized. Recently, in southern Illinois, this was brought to my attention by a few discussions with three people, one who calls himself a "Bible Christian" and one who was baptized in a New Age Christian "church". The other person did not say whether she was baptized or not.

To live among people who are not baptized presents a new dimension of spiritual warfare to the Catholic. If people are baptized, they are adopted sons and daughters of God, heirs of heaven, and given the theological graces of faith, hope and charity.

If a person is not baptized, according to the teaching of the Church, that person is a "slave to sin". Trent is clear on baptism. http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch7.htm

ON BAPTISM

CANON I.-If any one saith, that the baptism of John had the same force as the baptism of Christ; let him be anathema.CANON II.-If any one saith, that true and natural water is not of necessity for baptism, and, on that account, wrests, to some sort of metaphor, those words of our Lord Jesus Christ; Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost; let him be anathema.
CANON III.-If any one saith, that in the Roman church, which is the mother and mistress of all churches, there is not the true doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism; let him be anathema.
CANON IV.-If any one saith, that the baptism which is even given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church doth, is not true baptism; let him be anathema.
CANON V.-If any one saith, that baptism is free, that is, not necessary unto salvation; let him be anathema.
CANON VI.-If any one saith, that one who has been baptized cannot, even if he would, lose grace, let him sin ever so much, unless he will not believe; let him be anathema.
CANON VII.-If any one saith, that the baptized are, by baptism itself, made debtors but to faith alone, and not to the observance of the whole law of Christ; let him be anathema.
CANON VIII.-If any one saith, that the baptized are freed from all the precepts, whether written or transmitted, of holy Church, in such wise that they are not bound to observe them, unless they have chosen of their own accord to submit themselves thereunto; let him be anathema.
CANON IX.-If any one saith, that the resemblance of the baptism which they have received is so to be recalled unto men, as that they are to understand, that all vows made after baptism are void, in virtue of the promise already made in that baptism; as if, by those vows, they both derogated from that faith which they have professed, and from that baptism itself; let him be anathema.
CANON X.-If any one saith, that by the sole remembrance and the faith of the baptism which has been received, all sins committed after baptism are either remitted, or made venial; let him be anathema.
CANON XI.-If any one saith, that baptism, which was true and rightly conferred, is to be repeated, for him who has denied the faith of Christ amongst Infidels, when he is converted unto penitence; let him be anathema.
CANON XII.-If any one saith, that no one is to be baptized save at that age at which Christ was baptized, or in the very article of death; let him be anathema.
CANON XIII.-If any one saith, that little children, for that they have not actual faith, are not, after having received baptism, to be reckoned amongst the faithful; and that, for this cause, they are to be rebaptized when they have attained to years of discretion; or, that it is better that the baptism of such be omitted, than that, while not believing by their own act, they should be bapized in the faith alone of the Church; let him be anathema.
CANON XIV.-If any one saith, that those who have been thus baptized when children, are, when they have grown up, to be asked whether they will ratify what their sponsors promised in their names when they were baptized; and that, in case they answer that they will not, they are to be left to their own will; and are not to be compelled meanwhile to a Christian life by any other penalty, save that they be excluded from the participation of the Eucharist, and of the other sacraments, until they repent; let him be anathema.

There is a demonic twitter trending today, in which teens are calling up a demon. Those who do this and are Catholic fall into mortal sin. Those who are not baptized have no way to defend themselves from either possession, obsession, or oppression. They have no "armour".

Sadly, we are now living among the unbaptized, who do not have, usually, sanctifying grace, and who cannot defend themselves against the powers of the devil. These people have no illumination of the mind, no virtues to strengthen the will, no grace to help them choose good over evil. We can do nothing without grace, and natural virtues do not get us to heaven.

If you have children, find out those in their play groups or school groups who are not baptized and speak with the children about this new problem in our culture. One cannot expect an unbaptized person to act, think, respond the same way as someone who is baptized.

Can God give sanctifying grace to anyone without baptism? Yes, of course. But, the ordinary way into the life of God's own life, which is what grace is, still remains the sacrament of baptism.

We must evangelize the neo-pagans. Their salvation and the salvation of those around them demand this. Our own baptismal promises demand this.

Matthew 28:19New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI--Three

Sometimes, a particular encyclical seems prophetic. Humanae Vitae is of that category, as is Humanum Genus. The encyclical on the Mystical Body of Christ resonates with me this week, as we Catholics face a new awareness of the fragility of the Faith in many countries.

My comments are in blue here.

6. There is a special reason too, and one most dear to Us, which recalls this doctrine to Our mind and with it a deep sense of joy. During the year that has passed since the twenty-fifth anniversary of Our Episcopal consecration, We have had the great consolation of witnessing something that has made the image of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ stand out most clearly before the whole world. Though a long and deadly war has pitilessly broken the bond of brotherly union between nations, We have seen Our children in Christ, in whatever part of the world they happened to be, one in will and affection, lift up their hearts to the common Father, who, carrying in his own heart the cares and anxieties of all, is guiding the barque of the Catholic Church in the teeth of a raging tempest. This is a testimony to the wonderful union existing among Christians; but it also proves that, as Our paternal love embraces all peoples, whatever their nationality and race, so Catholics the world over, though their countries may have drawn the sword against each other, look to the Vicar of Jesus Christ as to the loving Father of them all, who, with absolute impartiality and incorruptible judgment, rising above the conflicting gales of human passions, takes upon himself with all his strength the defense of truth, justice and charity.

The real experience of Christians standing against the Nazi destruction of the Jews, and the new totalitarianism which included hatred of Christ's Gospel message and which prefered a neo-paganism, made many Christians, including leaders, come together in Germany and other places, decide to be strong together. Much was at stake, like today.

7. We have been no less consoled to know that with spontaneous generosity a fund has been created for the erection of a church in Rome to be dedicated to Our saintly predecessor and patron Eugene I. As this temple, to be built by the wish and through the liberality of all the faithful, will be a lasting memorial of this happy event, so We desire to offer this Encyclical Letter in testimony of Our gratitude. It tells of those living stones which rest upon the living corner-stone, which is Christ, and are built together into a holy temple, hr surpassing any temple built by hands, into a habitation of God in the Spirit.[4]

This good Pope aided the Jews himself, and the cooperation of many brave people revealed a love of God embracing all humans in distress. The period of warfare and the time after the war witnessed great growth in the Catholic Faith, not only in numbers, but in the consolidation of study and the pursuing of truth. Sadly, communist and socialist infiltration also grew, and the corruption we see today in the curia must be seen as entrenched positions of anti-Catholicism near the heart of the Church, like a disease ready to spread. Modernism also became part of the thinking of many leaders in the Church, especially in the seminaries, which churned out liberal, even disobedient priests. As an old priest told me years ago, he and his friends joined the seminary in the 1950s to make the Church more Protestant, in order to create a Pan-Christianity which could stand up against both communism and socialism. Of course, this belief did not work.

8. But the chief reason for Our present exposition of this sublime doctrine is Our solicitude for the souls entrusted to Us. Much indeed has been written on this subject; and we know that many today are turning with greater zest to a study which delights and nourishes Christian piety. This, it would seem, is chiefly because a revived interest in the sacred liturgy, the more widely spread custom of frequent Communion, and the more fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus practiced today, have brought many souls to a deeper consideration of the unsearchable riches of Christ which are preserved in the Church. Moreover recent pronouncements on Catholic Action, by drawing closer the bonds of union between Christians and between them and the ecclesiastical hierarchy and especially the Roman Pontiff, have undoubtedly helped not a little to place this truth in its proper light. Nevertheless, while We can derive legitimate joy from these considerations, We must confess that grave errors with regard to this doctrine are being spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of truth.

9. For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.

10. As a result of these conflicting and mutually antagonistic schools of thought, some through vain fear, look upon so profound a doctrine as something dangerous, and so they shrink from it as from the beautiful but forbidden fruit of paradise. But this is not so. Mysteries revealed by God cannot be harmful to men, nor should they remain as treasures hidden in a field, useless. They have been given from on high precisely to help the spiritual progress of those who study them in a spirit of piety. For, as the Vatican Council teaches, "reason illumined by faith, if it seeks earnestly, piously and wisely, does attain under God, to a certain and most helpful knowledge of mysteries, by considering their analogy with what it knows naturally, and their mutual relations, and their common relations with man's last end," although, as the same holy Synod observes, reason, even thus illumined, "is never capable of understanding those mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object."[5]

Naturalism and false rationalism created the atmosphere for the Irish vote on Friday. False mysticism created an environment of false love and false tolerance of sin. The framework of morality disappeared in Ireland, and, indeed, in Europe and America over the past forty years.

What was set aside was exactly "reason illumined by faith" which leads to study, prayer and the understanding of the true goal of all humans, union with God in heaven forever. 

Of course, I love this following paragraph with the reference to perfection, which would include, moral perfection as well as mystical and rational assent to the Church's teaching on all subjects.

11. After pondering all this long and seriously before God We consider it part of Our pastoral duty to explain to the entire flock of Christ through this Encyclical Letter the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ and of the union in this Body of the faithful with the divine Redeemer; and then, from this consoling doctrine, to draw certain lessons that will make a deeper study of this mystery bear yet richer fruits of perfection and holiness. Our purpose is to throw an added ray of glory on the supreme beauty of the Church; to bring out into fuller light the exalted supernatural nobility of the faithful who in the Body of Christ are united with their Head; and finally, to exclude definitively the many errors current with regard to this matter.

To read a clear document on what the Mystical Body of Christ actually is will give us all hope.

12. When one reflects on the origin of this doctrine, there come to mind at once the words of the Apostle: "Where sin abounded, grace did more abound."[6] All know that the father of the whole human race was constituted by God in so exalted a state that he was to hand on to his posterity, together with earthly existence, the heavenly life of divine grace. But after the unhappy fall of Adam, the whole human race, infected by the hereditary stain, lost their participation in the divine nature,[7] and we were all "children of wrath."[8] But the all-merciful God "so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son";[9] and the Word of the Eternal Father with the same divine love assumed human nature from the race of Adam—but an innocent and spotless nature—so that He, as the new Adam, might be the source whence the grace of the Holy Spirit should flow unto all the children of the first parent. Through the sin of the first man they had been excluded from adoption as children of God; through the Word incarnate, made brothers according to the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God, they receive also the power to become the sons of God.[10] As He hung upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father which had been violated, but He also won for us, His brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. it was possible for Him of Himself to impart these graces to mankind directly; but He willed to do so only through a visible Church made up of men, so that through her all might cooperate with Him in dispensing the graces of Redemption. As the Word of God willed to make use of our nature, when in excruciating agony He would redeem mankind, so in the same way throughout the centuries He makes use of the Church that the work begun might endure.[11]

The pope refers almost immediately to grace, a theme on this blog. The truth of the Fall of Man and his need for redemption led to the Incarnation and the great act of mercy, Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross, which draws all people of good will to a life of freedom and justice. Grace comes through the merits of the Church, the visible Church, and we choose to cooperate or not cooperate with these graces of that Act of Mercy, Redemption. Through the Cross and through the Church, we have access to new life as brothers and sisters in Christ.

13. If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church[12]—we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression "the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ"—an expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers.

The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, a great mystery of love. He is the Head and we are the Body. The visible Church on earth is this body, as noted below and explained by Leo XIII. The heresy of the "invisible church" was clearly rejected over a hundred years ago.

To be a member of the Mystical Body means that we are one with Christ on earth in and through His Church.

14. That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. "Christ," says the Apostle, "is the Head of the Body of the Church."[13] If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: "Though many we are one body in Christ."[14] But it is not enough that the body of the Church should be an unbroken unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: "the Church is visible because she is a body."[15] Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely "pneumatological" as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are united by an invisible bond.



to be continued....