Parish Newsletter - Week 1, 2026

As we tread through Lent, it is worth exploring the terms and concepts we use in Catholic teaching and the Liturgy. This week, I'd like to clarify what we mean by redemption and salvation.

Catholic theology views redemption as Christ's act of liberating humanity from the bondage of sin through his sacrificial death and resurrection, paying the ransom price for our sins and restoring our relationship with God. Redemption presupposes humanity's fall from grace due to original sin, which created a spiritual debt and separation from God. Jesus took on human nature and offered his perfect life, suffering, and death as a satisfactory price (a ransom) for humanity's sins, appeasing divine justice and repairing the broken relationship. This is redemption, not salvation. Our sins were forgiven by Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and we were redeemed and made children of God again. It is our faithful response (faith and works) to this redeeming act that secures individual salvation.

This contrasts strongly with the Protestant doctrine of sola fide (faith alone), emphasised during the Reformation, which asserts we are saved just by believing in God. It is a concept that the Catholic Church strongly rejects, the tenets of which were laid out by the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

The Council was a powerful and pivotal response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic doctrine and reformed a number of internal abuses. Significantly the Council affirmed seven sacraments, condemned justification by sola fide, reaffirmed the transubstantiation of the Eucharist into the Body and Blood of the Christ, and established stricter clerical discipline.

Catholics believe salvation is attained by grace through faith, but this faith must be active and formed by charity, meaning it must lead to good works, the sacraments, repentance, and be expressed through participation in the church, love of and obedience to God. In essence, eternal life is both a gift and a reward. As the Epistle of St James tells us faith is not passive; it's a living faith that expresses itself in actions, as "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Christ's crucifixion and resurrection redeemed all humanity collectively, a divine gift from God. Our response to that gift is key. It commits us to a pilgrim, transformative journey of living. Only then is salvation possible.