The Conversion of the Pagan World

A church without missions is like a tree without offshoots - it is doomed to die! The world looks upon the Church in America as a vigorous member of the whole Catholic body, functioning within its own territory in a healthy and prolific manner; but now the time has come for her to branch out and share her strength, her resources, her blood, if needs be, to scatter and nurture the seeds of the Faith among the redeemed but unenlightened peoples of the Orient. And will not the fruits of this tree be all the more bountiful because of the care given to it by the faithful husbandman interested in its expansion and development? When God wished to reveal to men truths of a supernatural order or to impose new obligations upon them or prescribe new means for salvation, He gave an extraordinary mission to certain persons who were to carry out His designs. Thus He sent Moses and the Prophets of the Old Testament; likewise He sent Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to found the New Law and the Apostles to preach it. 'Vithout this mission, well tried and proven by miracles, no one would have been obliged to believe. Our Lord Himself has founded His own authority to teach upon the mission which He received from the Father. For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God ( John iii. 34). To His Apostles He says, As the Father hath sent me, I also send you (John xx. 21). This work considers the burning question: "We now come to a question that has occupied some of the greatest minds in the Church. What is the teaching of the Church about the future of the millions and millions of souls who have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ, and yet do not know the Truth and never will know it? will they all be lost?" The answer begins: "We are here confronted with a mystery which Our Lord has not been pleased to reveal very clearly. There are some persons of weak faith or poorly instructed who admit too easily that those outside of the Christian religion will be saved merely through good faith; others, basing their opinion upon the axiom, "Outside of the Church there is no salvation," dispose of the question very quickly by consigning them all to Hell. The Protestants, who for a long time followed this rigorous opinion, now believe in the possibility of an evangelization of the dead and say that the lot of pagans, who in life have had no knowledge of Christianity, will be decided in the other world." Then follows a scholarly discussion of the Catholic teaching on this subject. In this day, when there are those, following the teaching of Father Leonard Feeney, who will readily consign all unbaptized to people to hell, it is necessary to study what the Catholic Church actually teaches on this important subject. '