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Posted by Moderator and James Dear Joseph; Your position is one which a Catholic may hold in good conscience. However, our research indicates that there is no formally defined dogma from the Magesterium on the proportion of the saved -vs- the damned. Here is the Catechism passage in question: ---Quote--- "1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: 'Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.' "Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth." ---Endquote--- This passage simply says that it is incumbent upon all to pursue a life of holiness. Nowhere does it actually state that the majority of people will be damned. It does quote Matthew 7:13-14, but without actually commenting on the question of the number of the elect. Some Catholics interpret Matthew 7:13-14 as teaching that few will be saved. Others interpret it differently (see below). Catholics are free to accept either position (or take no position on the matter) and still be in good standing with the Church, so you are certainly free to hold your opinion. For the sake of balance, let us look at the arguments from the other side - not to refute you but to present both views (we should state from the outset that we personally remain undecided on the matter). The late Fr. William G. Most, a Scripture scholar and a very orthodox, faithful Catholic, did not believe that Matthew 7:13-14 teaches few will be saved. In his article "The Number of Those Saved", he argued that Our Lord was actually addressing a view common at his time that the majority of circumcized Jews would be saved. Jesus was saying that they should not take their salvation for granted (especially since many of them would ultimately reject Him). Here is the url of the article; I will also provide a link to it below, since it is quite informative: The Number of Those Saved - William G. Most The _Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture_, a thoroughly orthodox resource (Imprimatur 1951), says the following about Matthew 7:13-14: "Our Lord does not minimize the difficulty of the Christian way of life, but laments the fewness of those who in fact follow it....That there are few that walk this way is a fact of experience. It does not follow that only these reach the goal - who can calculate the mercy of God? Our Lord does not intend to define the number of the 'elect' - a question which He refuses to answer in Luke 13:23. It is the practical solution that counts: Strive to enter by the narrow door, Luke 13:24. The answer to the theoretical question is not useful to man; God reserves the knowledge to Himself, ST 1,23,7, corp. We know that God wishes all men to be saved, 1 Tim 2:4, and this is solid foundation for our hope." (section 688a, page 865). Even if a man walks the broad path of destruction all his life, he could still be snatched off of it in the eleventh hour. How many wayward souls have been diverted from Hell by deathbed conversions? Emergency baptism for non-Catholics and Anointing of the Sick for fallen-away Catholics are two wonderful means by which Mother Church adds former lifelong sinners to the Communion of the Saints! According to Fr. Most, the majority of Church Fathers believed that few, not many, will be saved. However, he points out that this does not necessarily mean the position is true, since the Fathers do not indicate that they have received this teaching from the Apostles. Thus it may not be an Apostolic Tradition, but their personal, fallible opinion. Consider this: the majority of Christian writers throughout the centuries have believed that Our Lady experienced physical death (her "Dormition") before her Assumption. A minority of later writers hold that she was taken up while still alive (the "immortalist" position). When Pius XII declared the truth of the Assumption, he refrained from declaring whether or not the Blessed Virgin tasted death first. Thus Catholics are free to hold either view. Even though the Dormition is the majority opinion, that does not necessarily mean the immortalists are wrong (and visa versa, of course). Similarly, the Church has no dogmatic position on whether the saved are in the minority or majority. Your view seems to be the majority opinion, so it may be correct - but maybe not. At any rate, you are free to hold it. We don't know exactly how many people will be saved; only God knows. The good news is the number does seem to be rather sizable. The Catholic Church recognizes tens of thousands of saints and admits that many other people have made it to heaven who will never be officially canonized (we commemorate them all in the Feast of All Saints). In the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation), St. John describes the following heavenly vision: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!"....Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Apoc 7:9-17) Notice that the elect constitute "a great multitude which no man could number". This certainly seems to indicate a very large number of souls! Of course, St. John does not say what percentage they are of all the people who have ever lived; they might well be "few" in comparison! In that case, "few" in Matthew 7:14 would not mean "hardly any at all", just proportionally less. But if Fr. Most's interpretation is correct, then this great multitude need not be less than the number of the damned. God does will that all be saved (I Tim 2:4; II Peter 3:9), but since not everyone does His will, Hell won't be empty and may, tragically, be well-populated. (It is always tragic when a soul made in God's image is alienated from Him for all eternity. If only one soul were lost in the whole history of mankind it would still be a horrible tragedy!) Whether many or few will go to heaven, we should pray earnestly to be in that number! We must also pray earnestly for the salvation of others; this is the teaching of Scripture (I Timothy 2:1-6), the Church, and was an important part of the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Apocalypse 7:9-17 gives us hope that an innumerable multitude will make it to Heaven, while Matthew 7:13-14 warns us against the sin of presumption! Only the grace of God can sustain us along the narrow way. My husband wishes to add a final point here: When the Church issues a dogmatic decree settling a doctrine, the Magesterium is usually clear and unambiguous. Pius XII was clear in stating that Mary was assumed, and in refusing to side with either the immortalist view or belief in the Dormition. In contrast, paragraph 1036 in the Catechism does not clearly and unambiguously advocate the position that few are saved; in fact it does not appear to be talking about that at all. This would still be the case even if the view that few are saved is one day infallibly declared to be true. As far as I know, the Magesterium has not ruled on this issue. No ecumenical council endorses either view, nor has any pope issued an ex cathedra decree on the proportion of the saved to the damned. If one had, Fr. Most would have stated such in his article and defended the Church's official teaching! So this is clearly an open issue: you are free to say "few", others are free to say "many", and still others, such as ourselves, are free to reserve judgment on the matter (unless and until the Church infallibly decrees one view or the other, of course). God bless you, my brother. In Jesu et Maria, Link: The Number of Those Saved - Fr. Most
on 3/29/2001, 11:06 pm
+JMJ
http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/ELCTNUM.TXT
Mystic Rose and James.
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