Is heaven a ’Catholics- only’ kind of place?

Dear Mason & Teo,
Do non-Catholics get to go to heaven? How about those from New Hope Chapel? Other Christians with faith don’t have to fast, confess, worry about marrying a divorced person, attend Mass every Sunday, abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent, follow the requirements for Catholic funeral services, etc. Jews don’t even recognize Jesus Christ as our savior. Buddhists believe in Buddha. (Strictly Catholic)

Dear Strictly Catholic,

In God’s eyes, there are no denominations, whether Catholic, non-Catholic, Jew, Buddhist, etc. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to be flesh for the world. He came for all men and women, for all time, not for just an elite group of people.

The Pharisees asked Jesus a similar question. The Pharisees considered themselves redeemed by their meticulous adherence to religious rules and tradition. When they questioned Jesus about his fellowship with sinners, foreigners and those they considered “unclean,” he responded, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

Heaven is, therefore, a gift freely given to everyone because “all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2Cor 5:18). All people are called to God himself and bound to seek the truth. Different religions reflect different parts of the truth. We must treat those who do not know our faith with love, respect, patience and prudence.

There’s an old saying: “It is better to be kind then to be right.” Many people, Catholics and others, are so focused on being obedient to rules and commandments that they miss the main reason for the rules and commandments. It is about relationships — a loving relationship with God and loving relationships with one another.

It is not enough to fast on Fridays and go to Mass on Sundays if it does not move one to be a compassionate, loving person, in right relationship with God and with others. We see only the external action. God sees the desire, the intention and the heart.

As Catholics, we believe that our relationship to Christ depends on our relationship to the church. We do not idolize the church because the church is not a substitute for Christ. Rather the church itself is a Sacrament of Christ. A sacrament, the Baltimore Catechism used to say, is an “outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace.” The church is a sign and instrument of communion with God and unity among all.

The Catholic Church’s sacramental perspective is one in which we discover God in and through the things of this world. Catholics recognize God’s saving presence mediated through the ordinary, the material, and the human — water, oil, bread, wine, a word, a gesture.

Jesus Christ chose to communicate his salvation through the sacraments. The sacraments do not depend upon the strength, intelligence or holiness of the person administering it because it is Christ who acts in every sacrament, even through its unworthy ministers. It is Christ who baptizes; it is Christ who absolves sin in confession.

Every sacrament produces its effects by the power of Christ alone and not by our own works or that of our ministers. However, the effect of the sacraments depends upon how well we are disposed to receive them. Christ always gives grace, but we must have the motives and conditions for receiving grace.

Although our Catholic Tradition holds that faith in the Gospel and membership in the church are central ways of God’s grace working in history overall, God’s presence and grace does exists outside of Christianity because Christ died for all men and women.

As Catholics, we believe in a God who revealed the fullness of his divinity through Jesus Christ. Even though life is filled with sinfulness, we believe God created all things good and holy and, through God’s grace in our human experience, we are able to see God up close and personal in the ordinary.

And while the church is not the exclusive place where God’s grace is revealed, it is still a privileged place to see God. The word “catholic” means universal. To be Catholic means to be open to all truth, universal and all-embracing. It does not mean that all religions are the same. But ultimately, every person, every nation, every culture, every race is included in the church because each has something to gain and something to give to the church.

Yes! There is diversity in the church but there is also unity. “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another” (Romans 12:4-5).