I think you are a little bit all wet on your understanding of Catholics and salvation. ......
Agreed. The Church is not my hope. Jesus is. And yet he founded His Church.
The Catholic Catechism says otherwise.
816 "The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it.... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."
267
The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism explains:
"For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained......
824 United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she becomes sanctifying.
"All the activities of the Church are directed, as toward their end, to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God."292 It is in the Church that "the fullness of the means of salvation"293 has been deposited. It is in her that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness."294
830 The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." the Church is catholic in a double sense: First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church."307 In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation
837 "Fully incorporated into the society of the Church are those who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, accept all the means of salvation given to the Church together with her entire organization, and who - by the bonds constituted by the profession of faith, the sacraments, ecclesiastical government, and communion - are joined in the visible structure of the Church of Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops.
Even though incorporated into the Church, one who does not however persevere in charity is not saved. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but 'in body' not 'in heart.'"
321
Look at this header in that catechism.
"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?
335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time
the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
Basically, they are saying that any believer no longer staying in the Catholic Church are not saved.
Now pay attention to what they say about unbelievers.
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience -
those too may achieve eternal salvation.
337
So why convert unbelievers? Catholics are probably wonder why they bother to join the church to obtain the means for sanctification & holiness to run that rat race but if they do not persevere in charity, they are not saved. By the catechism, better to not be converted.
I can see why the Vatican & the early church in Rome had it this way because unbelievers would be mad in Rome when hearing Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved in going to Heaven. The church would be having a constant protest and angry mob at their doorstep. And yet, they want to keep their Catholic members.
Anyway, there is just cause for why I believe what Catholics believe per their catechism.
Can you explain to me by what was posted from the catechism how a Catholic that knows the catechism, can still say that their hope is not in their Church, but in Jesus Christ? I have heard of "cafeteria" Catholics where they do not believe in everything the Catholic catechism teaches, but I pretty much assign everything Catholic per their Catholic catechism when referring to Catholicism.
That is not to say I judge all Catholics as being devout since I acknowledge cafeteria Catholics, but when addressing the issue of Catholicism for what the Catholic Church represents per their official Catholic Catechism, it is to the core belief I refer to rather than individual Catholics.