Membership in the Catholic Church

[Raskolnikov]

I am trying to get my head around what is actually required for membership in the Catholic Church.

As I understand it, one is not only a member of the Catholic Church by Trinitarian baptism, but also by holding the Catholic Faith and by being canonically subject to the Roman Pontiff.

Is this correct? If so, then how do certain Catholic organisations who are not canonically subject to the Roman Pontiff (the SSPX, and certain ‘independent’ Catholic groups, for instance) still maintain their real membership in the Church? Or is it somehow possible to be 'subject to the Roman Pontiff' while still being outside of the regular canonical structures of the Church?

If it isn’t correct, then can someone clarify for me what exactly constitutes membership in the Catholic Church?

I know that this has been discussed before, but I can’t use the search function.

[INPEFESS]

Good question! Since it is the Church's teaching, I'll let the Church answer it.

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free."[17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.[18] And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

So there are three conjuctive conditions, the last of which is divided into two disjunctive conditions: (1) baptized, (2) profess the true faith, and (3a) have not separated one's self from the unity of the Body, or (3b) have not been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.

Sedevacantists and some independents do not believe that they "have been ... so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body" because they don't believe that the members of the present hierarchy are professing the Catholic faith itself, which, by this very teaching, is a necessary prerequisite for visible membership in the Church. This being the case, they do not believe that they have separated themselves from the unity of the body; rather, they believe that it is the Modernists (and all those who receive, defend or harbor them) who have separated themselves from the unity of the body by failing to profess the inviolable Faith.

The SSPX believes that its disobedience is lawful given the circumstances, but someone else will have to represent the SSPX since I am not familiar with how it views itself in light of the above-mentioned conditions.

EDITE: remove double negative, grammar, clarity

[charlesh]

From the Catechism of St. Pius X:

Q. Who is a true Christian?
A. A true Christian is he who is baptised, who believes and professes the Christian Doctrine, and obeys the lawful pastors of the Church.

11 Q. Who are they who are outside the true Church?
A. Outside the true Church are: Infidels, Jews, heretics, apostates, schismatics, and the excommunicated.

12 Q. Who are infidels?
A. Infidels are those who have not been baptised and do not believe in Jesus Christ, because they either believe in and worship false gods as idolaters do, or though admitting one true God, they do not believe in the Messiah, neither as already come in the Person of Jesus Christ, nor as to come; for instance, Mohammedans and the like.

13 Q. Who are the Jews?
A. The Jews are those who profess the Law of Moses; have not received baptism; and do not believe in Jesus Christ.

14 Q. Who are heretics?
A. Heretics are those of the baptised who obstinately refuse to believe some truth revealed by God and taught as an article of faith by the Catholic Church; for example, the Arians, the Nestorians and the various sects of Protestants.

15 Q. Who are apostates?
A. Apostates are those who abjure, or by some external act, deny the Catholic faith which they previously professed.

16 Q. Who are schismatics?
A. Schismatics are those Christians who, while not explicitly denying any dogma, yet voluntarily separate themselves from the Church of Jesus Christ, that is, from their lawful pastors.

17 Q. Who are the excommunicated?
A. The excommunicated are those who, because of grievous transgressions, are struck with excommunication by the Pope or their Bishop, and consequently are cut off as unworthy from the body of the Church, which, however, hopes for and desires their conversion.