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Why I Cringe Every Time I Hear “Safely Home”! May 29th, 2012by Gary Zimak. I do not like the poem, “Safely Home”. There, I said it, let the negative comments begin! However, before you write me off as a “nut” or someone who lacks compassion, let me explain why this seemingly comforting poem is not compatible with Catholic teaching and could actually cause your deceased loved ones to suffer needlessly. Let’s begin by looking at this poem, which is appearing on more and more Catholic prayer cards:I am home in Heaven, dear ones;Oh so happy and so bright!There is perfect...

The Ten Scariest DMV Horror Stories There is a dark side to driving in the US, and it is known as the DMV. Listen to these ten tales of woe from Jalopnik readers and you'll get a taste of American bureaucracy at its worst. 10.) Counterfeiters get Mustang GTs Suggested By: frankiepoops What happened: Worst experience that I ever had was when the NY DMV decided that my title for my 1996 green Mustang was counterfeit, not the first time I registered it, but when I went back to put it back on the road after parking it for a...

Featured Term (selected at random):PURGATORY The place or condition in which the souls of the just are purified after death and before they can enter heaven. They may be purified of the guilt of their venial sins, as in this life, by an act of contrition deriving from charity and performed with the help of grace. This sorrow does not, however, affect the punishment for sins, because in the next world there is no longer any possibility of merit. The souls are certainly purified by atoning for the temporal punishments due to sin by their willing acceptance of suffering imposed...

Below is the Preface to the book Praying with the Saints for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, authored by Susan Tassone, whose writings I highly recommend. The Preface is written by Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Many thanks to Ms. Tassone and Our Sunday Visitor for allowing me to reprint this excerpt. To order a copy of the book, click here. All down the centuries, the Catholic Church, true to her belief in the Communion of Saints which she professes and the Apostles' Creed, has urged the faithful to pray fervently for...

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for November 2, 2011 | The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed | Carl E. Olson“I’ve always had a hard time explaining purgatory,” the man said. “Didn’t the Second Vatican Council say that Catholics no longer have to believe in purgatory?”That remark was made to me years ago, not long after I had entered the Catholic Church. Although I was saddened to hear it, it didn’t surprise me. In the course of studying various Catholic doctrines, I had learned that certain beliefs, including purgatory, were often avoided or even ignored by some Catholics. And...

What is the best devotion to help the souls in purgatory? The holy sacrifice of the Mass is the chief source of devotion for the holy souls. So, the most powerful means to relieve or release a soul from purgatory is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. You’ll find that in the Catechism. It says it in 1032: “From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.” In Praying With the Saints...

Catholics get a bad rap for thinking we somehow “merit” or “earn” our own sanctification (and salvation) through “works” that we do. But that’s a misunderstanding of what the Catholic Church actually teaches. Our sanctification (our being made holy) happens only by the Grace of God. But it does require a response on our part. We must cooperate with it. This submission to and cooperation with God’s Grace, Catholics call a “work” and it takes various forms.Some identify this response to God’s grace as a kind of “saving” or “justifying” faith (a faith that produces or is accompanied by works...

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The church designates each November as a month dedicated to praying for the dead. The Nov. 2 feast, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day), is a day of special intercession for all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1032) teaches us that prayer for the dead is one of the spiritual works of mercy.Why should we pray for the dead? Isn’t our fate sealed at the moment of our death? What good does prayer do? When we die we are destined for either...

James Kirk Wall, author of Agnosticism: The Battle Against Shameless Ignorance, seems to think he has come up with a clever line of agnostic apologetics to pursue in getting rid of Hell: Pastor Rob Bell is arguing that there may be no Hell. Would Christianity still be able to sell without Hell, or would membership plummet? Heaven and Hell make up the greatest marketing campaign ever created by man. If you buy what we’re selling, you will live forever in happiness. If you don’t, fire and brimstone for all eternity! Uh, yeah, that's a perfect to way to put...

Divine Mercy Diary Exerpts   Jesus's words are in italics.  St. Faustina's words are in regular print.   "Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me." (1693)     "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy." (300)     

Purgatory 851. What Scriptural authority has the Catholic Church for teaching that there is a purgatory? The Catholic Church has Scriptural authority for whatever doctrines she teaches, insofar as she was appointed to be the teacher of mankind by Christ. It would not really matter whether a given doctrine were contained in Scripture or not. While everything in the Bible is true, not everything true is in the Bible. I am getting rather tired of being asked to prove everything from the Bible, as if the Bible were the only test of what we must accept or reject. And even...

What happens when a person dies? Since death happens to everyone eventually, the question is frequently pondered. Will there be a second chance at life? What happens to our loved ones when they die? Can the living do anything to make the afterlife of the dead better? There are a number of teachings on the topic of death and afterlife. Some theories say that there is nothing after life. Many eastern theologies believe in reincarnation. Christianity speaks of Hades and then an all encompassing judgment. Catholicism speaks of purgatory. The concepts of prayer, baptism, and preaching for the dead, as...

For Purgatory, Thank Heavens Posted by Frank —Feast of All SoulsWhen I was straddling the fence on whether or not I should become a Catholic, I never had a problem with Purgatory. It just makes the most sense to me. I'll admit that I thought I would have a big problem with it at first. Because, you see, it isn't mentioned specifically in the Bible (along with about a million other details). But where did all the people who died go, for example from the Old Testament times? Assuming that all the people who had died before the Incarnation were...

WASHINGTON – The petite woman in regal purple edged her way behind a raucous mob of reporters awaiting the next speaker of the House, a brutal midterm election behind her and an unclear future ahead. Attuned for four years to the comings and goings of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, few in the press klatch noticed — and none followed her. The spotlight and the microphones now awaited not the California Democrat, but Ohio Republican John Boehner. Change at the top, the populist battle cry in the 2010 midterm elections, already has taken hold around Pelosi in the final days of...

Why Pray for the Dead?Q: A Christian friend of mine says that the Bible contains no references to purgatory. What is the basis for the Catholic Church’s teaching about this? Why do Catholics pray for the dead? A: In 2 Maccabees 12:38-46, Judas Maccabee orders that sacrifices be offered in the Temple in Jerusalem for slain Jewish soldiers who had worn pagan amulets (good-luck charms). Some people have seen this story as biblical justification for the teaching on purgatory. That certainly overstates the author’s intention. If, however, those Jewish soldiers did something wrong by wearing pagan amulets, why offer sacrifices...

99 & 1/2 Won’t Do – A Meditation on PurgatoryBy: Msgr. Charles Pope I have blogged before on Purgatory. For example here: Purgatory – Biblical and Reasonable. I have also provided a PDF document on the Biblical roots of the teaching here: PDF Document on Purgatory .On this Feast of All Souls I want to reflect on Purgatory as the necessary result of a promise. Many people think of purgatory primarily in terms of punishment, but it is also important to think of it in terms of  promise, purity and perfection. Some of our deceased brethren are having the...

November 2, 2010The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)  Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Wis 3:1-9The souls of the just are in the hand of God,and no torment shall touch them.They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;and their passing away was thought an afflictionand their going forth from us, utter destruction.But they are in peace.For if before men, indeed, they be punished,yet is their hope full of immortality;chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,because God tried themand found them worthy of himself.As gold in the furnace, he proved them,and as sacrificial offerings he...

Lists Every Catholic Should be Familiar With Jump to: The 7 Sacraments (The Holy Mysteries)The 7 Corporal Works of MercyThe 7 Spiritual Works of MercyThe 3 Eminent Good WorksThe 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost (& the Charismata)The 12 Fruits of the Holy GhostThe 3 Theological VirtuesThe 4 Cardinal VirtuesThe 7 Capital Sins & Their Contrary VirtuesThe 6 Sins Against the Holy GhostThe 4 Sins That Cry Out to HeavenThe 3 Conditions of Mortal SinThe 9 Ways We Participate in Others' SinsThe 10 CommandmentsThe 2 Greatest CommandmentsThe 3 Evangelical CounselsThe 6 Precepts of the ChurchThe Holy Days of Obligation (English)The...

Man's inborn religious instinct tells him that there is more than the sensible world; indeed, it "never feels natural to accept only natural things," as Chesterton said. But about the afterlife we have more than just an intuitive inkling. Throughout history there have been manifestations -- some vague, others more concrete -- to support this ineradicable and universal intuition. Today, phenomena such as near-death experiences, spiritualist practices, and "channeling" or "phantom-chasing" (attempts to technologically register the presence of ghosts) attract a lot of attention. Of course, false explanations abound, and valid experiences of the paranormal can lead to superstitious...