Hell Hath No Fury. Period. Or so a priest responding to questions in the Kansas City Star would have you believe.
From Kansas City Catholic:
I was reminded of that pithiness when I read the “Voices of Faith” column in The Kansas City Star today (apparently not available online). That weekly column presents questions from readers that are answered by clergy of different faiths from around town on a rotating basis. Each week at least two persons answer the given question. Today’s question read, “Is Hell a real place where people are sent?”
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One clergyman that answered today is a well-known priest in the diocese. He is the pastor of what I would guess is one of the more well-to-do parishes around. In response to the question, he wrote, in part:
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The Catholic Church teaches that hell indeed exists. The church does not teach, however, that anyone is necessarily in hell. This is due to the universality of salvation won for us in Christ and to God’s constant mercy, even at the moment of death.
Oy! Kansas City Catholic gives a well reasoned and thoughtful analysis, you should read the whole thing. I am glad there are bloggers around who are patient and kind enough to deal with this nonsense properly. I, on the other hand, would have simply responded “Hell? Yes Virginia, there is a hell. It is where priests who refuse to teach the truth go.”
I am glad there are nice bloggers.
August 27, 2007 at 2:26 pm
If I remember right, it was that heretic Thomas Aquinas that said that there has to be a hell, but there doesn’t have to be anyone in it. This is to protect the autonomy of God who can do whatever He wants. Of course, not being God ourselves, we can’t presume however, that no one actually IS in hell, nor can we presume that everyone is in heaven. Universal salvation however, is a speculation that shouldn’t be coming from an official source like a diocesan paper…
August 27, 2007 at 2:39 pm
At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the three child seers that many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifices for them. In her Memoirs, Sister Lucy describes the vision of hell that Our Lady showed the children at Fatima:
“She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.”
August 27, 2007 at 2:40 pm
I ask you, who will pray for these souls if everyone thinks that no one goes to hell?
August 27, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Well, private revelation, even if approved by the Church, is hardly a sufficient defense of a theological position.
The larger point is that God’s mercy and his complete autonomy allow for the speculative possibility that no one is in hell, even as his justice demands that there be a place for those with free who reject God to go.
August 27, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Well, Anonymous.
I was not citing it as defense of a theological position. I need not. The consistent teaching is clear. The onus of defense is on the other side. If I am wrong, no worries. If you are wrong, you are promoting a false sense of security that jeopardizes souls.
August 28, 2007 at 2:15 am
I don’t consider this an argument against hell at all. I believe in it and suspect (though I cannot judge) that there are many souls there. I also realize that our culture and our time is much too glib about eternal damnation. Nonetheless, it is a completely orthodox view (and has been since the medievals considered the questions around the nature of God) that it is possible that God, who can do anything, might prevent souls from falling into hell. Is this likely? Who knows the mind of God. Does it seem likely to our human minds? No, not really. But to deny God the right or power to dispense His mercy as He chooses is to limit His power and make Him less than God. That is a greater heresy than the proposal of universal salvation if you ask me.
August 28, 2007 at 3:12 am
“But to deny God the right or power to dispense His mercy as He chooses is to limit His power and make Him less than God. That is a greater heresy than the proposal of universal salvation if you ask me.”
And who did that? To simply state that there is a hell and the souls do go there is a heresy? No, No. You know better than that. This type of rhetoric is only aimed at trying to ‘win’ and argument by shaming the other party. That will not fly here. There is a hell and souls (people) do go there. Period. To suggest anything else is a disservice. No amount of semantic bullying will change that. To state the truth is not to deny God anything. You know that don’t you D.?
August 28, 2007 at 3:24 am
ah…so you found me out! I was enjoying this game! 🙂
But I still think my theological proposition stands.