130. Jimmy Carter is a non-Catholic Christian that I have always respected and admired.

Jimmy Carter is a non-Catholic Christian that I have always respected and admired.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 130

Ave Maria series

130  Are non-Catholic Christians our sisters and brothers also?

All baptized persons belong to the Church of Jesus Christ.  That is why also those Christians who find themselves separated from the full communion of the Catholic Church are rightly called Christians and are therefore our sisters and brothers. [817-819]

President  Jimmy  Carter, a Baptist Christian of great character.....62.....130

Instances of separation from the one Church of Christ came about through falsifications of Christ’s teaching, human failings, and a lack of willingness to be reconciled—usually on the part of representatives on both sides.  Christians today are in no way guilty for the historical divisions of the Church.  The Holy Spirit also works for the salvation of mankind in the churches and ecclesial communities that are separated from the Catholic Church.  All of the gifts present there, for example, Sacred Scripture, sacraments, faith, hope, love, and other charisms, come originally from Christ.  Where the Spirit of Christ lives, there is an inner dynamic leading toward “reunion”, because what belongs together wants to grow together.

Churches and Ecclesial Communities:  Many Christian communities on earth call themselves churches.  According to the Catholic understanding, only those in which the sacraments of Jesus Christ have been preserved in their entirety have remained “Church”.  This is especially true of the Orthodox and Eastern Churches.  In the “ecclesial communities” that resulted from the Protestant Reformation, all the sacraments have not been preserved.

[817-819]

Wounds to unity

817 In fact, "in this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame."(Unitatis redintegratio 3 § 1)²⁶⁹  The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body - here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism(compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 751)²⁷⁰  - do not occur without human sin: –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.(Origen, Hom. in Ezech. 9,1:Patrologia Graeca 13,732)²⁷¹  --CCC

818 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."(Unitatis redintegratio 3 § 1)²⁷² –CCC

819 "Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth"(Lumen gentium 8 § 2)²⁷³  are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements."(Unitatis redintegratio 3 § 2; compare Lumen gentium 15)²⁷⁴    Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him,(compare Unitatis redintegratio 3)²⁷⁵  and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."(compare Lumen gentium 8)²⁷⁶ –CCC

People  Evangeli