Heresy and other grave doctrinal errors are found in Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s catechism, which is titled “Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith”. The Latin word “Credo” means “I believe”.

“Credo” – Errors on non-Christian Religions

In Credo, Bishop Athanasius Schneider claims: “82. To be saved, what truths must we believe with explicit faith?
“We must at least believe and profess: 1. The existence of one God, who is a Rewarder of our works in eternity; 2. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity; 3. The Incarnation of the Son of God for our salvation.” [p. 258]

The teaching of the Church does not require explicit faith in the above list of truths for salvation. Baptized infants, who die unfortunately at that young age, do not explicitly believe in anything, but they have the state of grace, the theological virtues of love, faith, and hope, and the indwelling of the Trinity. As for adults, the Church has always taught that a baptism of desire can be implicit, meaning that the person does not “believe with explicit faith” in the Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God. As discussed in the previous article on “Credo”, this type of claim by Schneider implies the heresy of Feeneyism. Pope Saint John Paul II explicitly taught in the papal encyclical Mission of Redemption, n. 10, that: “The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church.” The Roman Catholic Magisterium teaches the contrary of what Schneider teaches in “Credo”. So an explicit faith in the list of truths presented by Schneider is not required for salvation.

This claim that salvation is limited to persons who explicitly believe in the Trinity, and in Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God necessarily excludes from salvation all non-Christians. And as explained in the previous article on “Credo”, Schneider also excludes almost all non-Catholic Christians from salvation as well. This is again the heresy of Feeneyism.

Credo “203. What about the many non-Catholic groups claiming the title of ‘Christian’ or ‘Church’?
“Those that hold Jesus as Lord but do not profess the entirety of His doctrine or participate in the unity of His Church have no proper claim to such titles. While often composed of men of good will, these communities are separated from the true Church as products typically of heresies or schisms.” [p. 84]

Here Bishop Athanasius Schneider denies the terms “Christian” and “Church” to all non-Catholic “groups”, and even denies those terms to heretics and schismatics. Ironically, Bishop Schneider is a public obstinate schismatic and heretic, who rejects the teachings of Vatican II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and especially opposes the decisions of Pope Francis on doctrine and discipline. By his own disordered and incorrect metric, he himself could not be called a Christian. But since he is in error on this point, he is still a Christian and, to some extent, a member of the Church. Recall that heretical and schismatic Catholics can repent and receive the Sacrament of Confession.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Protestant and Orthodox Christian baptism is the valid Sacrament of Baptism, which is the Sacrament of entrance into the Church. Such persons are Christian by virtue of Baptism and therefore the Church has always called them Christian. The Church also calls the Orthodox Christian “groups” with the term “Churches” as they have all seven Sacraments and their Bishops have apostolic succession.

The claim by Bishop Athanasius Schneider that non-Catholic Christians do not have proper claim to the terms Christian and Churches is part of his heresy of Feeneyism, where he even denies salvation to non-Catholic Christians, with rare exception.

Credo: “204. Is Judaism a source of sanctifying grace and salvation for its adherents?
“No. Even in the time before Christ, no one was saved by works of the Old Law, but only by faith in the coming Redeemer. This Law, with its precepts and ceremonies, was fulfilled and surpassed by the New Covenant in Jesus Christ (see Rom 3:28; and Gal 2:16).” [p. 84-85]

[Romans 4]
{4:1} So then, what shall we say that Abraham had achieved, who is our father according to the flesh?
{4:2} For if Abraham was justified by works, he would have glory, but not with God.
{4:3} For what does Scripture say? “Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.”

The question was on Judaism as a religion, but the answer from Schneider was restricted to works. As St. Paul teaches in Romans, Abraham (formerly called “Abram”) had faith in God, and so he was justified, i.e. he received an implicit baptism of desire. Abraham could not explicitly desire the Sacrament of Baptism, because it was not yet established. Those who were saved prior to Christ were saved by an implicit baptism of desire. Yet this is denied by the book “Credo”.

And at that time, Abraham had no explicit knowledge of the future Messiah; he had faith in God, without knowing about the future Incarnation nor about the Trinity. Then, once the future Messiah was revealed by God to the Israelites, the Jews still did not know about the Incarnation or the Trinity. Yet the Church teaches the limbo of the fathers, referring to the Old Testament Patriarchs and others saved before Christ. So the claim by Schneider that explicit faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God and explicit faith in the Trinity is necessary for salvation is FALSE.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider teaches heresy by his implied claim that salvation requires explicit acts of faith in the Trinity and Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God. He thereby excludes from salvation Jews, Muslims, other believers, and agnostics and atheists.

Pope Saint John Paul II: “10. The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.

For this reason the Council, after affirming the centrality of the Paschal Mystery, went on to declare that ‘this applies not only to Christians but to all people of good will in whose hearts grace is secretly at work. Since Christ died for everyone, and since the ultimate calling of each of us comes from God and is therefore a universal one, we are obliged to hold that the Holy Spirit offers everyone the possibility of sharing in this Paschal Mystery in a manner known to God.’ ” [Mission of Redemption, n. 10; inner quotes from Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 22.]

Ronald L Conte Jr

Quotations from “Credo” are from:
Schneider, Bishop Athanasius. Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith. Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.