Why the Church?

"It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation" Dominus Iesus



I am happily convinced that Jesus is essential for salvation. What surprised me, is that I did not (!) have the same view of the Church being essential, also that this was a twin truth to the necessity of Christ.

Why is the Church essential for salvation??? Or if you do not think it is, why not?

If you think the Church is essential....please give an answer than might be persuasive to someone who doesnt think so.




(This is an essay question... I have to confess)


This is a question I have posted in two forums, however
Total Catholic Total Catholic are often more responsive than XT3....

so I am also interested to compare the responses from the two forums, which have quite different readerships in terms of age range