2.14 Can I be a good Christian without the Church?
Jesus knew that it would not be easy to live as a Christian. He therefore instituted the Church, in which all his followers together form a community. By means of this community, the faithful can come to God, particularly by receiving the sacraments and by living as God teaches us.
Jesus loves us so much that he was prepared to offer up his life for the Church. Whoever rejects the Church, also rejects Jesus. When people do not know the Church without fault on their part, this does not mean that they are automatically damned. However, it is much easier to come to God through the Church, and to be happy in heaven forever. God desires this for all people!
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The Wisdom of the Church
This is what the Church Fathers say
Whoever is separated from the Church... is separated from the promises of the Church... He is a stranger: he cannot have God as a father who does not have the Church as a mother. [St. Cyprian, On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Chap. 6 (ML 4, 502)]
