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One of the arguments given for not preaching about hell is that it
frightens people. Am I missing something here or is this not the main reason we should be hearing about it? I am frighened that if I fall into mortal sin and don’t repent the I will end up in Hell. I also want my children to know about the four last things
I can state the last time I heard the priest preach on hell and that was at a Mass of the SSPX. God Bless them.
The very name Lentfest says it all. -
That’s it exactly, Majella. We’re supposed to be frightened of Hell!
I can’t understand these priests who won’t mention it. The SSPX people are lucky to hear their priests preaching on it, regularly.
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At Mass [TLM] to-day, Liverpool Archdiocese, the parish priest used +Davies’ ‘letter’ on Lent as the basis for the homily, and, presumably at the earlier NOM! N.B. The latter Celebrated ad orientem and the Mass booklet having English and Latin side-by-side as in our own Missals. The parish are being won over after some initial adverse reactions to the changes. The adjacent, Benedictine, parish appear to be making incorrect statements as to what is going-on their sister parish.
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As always, we must look to our Holy Mother. Did She not show the children of Fatima a vision of Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go? Surely big grown up adults can take the reality of Hell, and the awful consequences and dangers for all of us of the possibility of ending up there. Do those whose responsibility it is to preach about it, think it will disappear if they don’t mention it, or lessen it’s severity? How many people realise that the very minute our soul leaves our body, Judgement takes place immediately and our eternal destiny is determined for all eternity. There is no appeal against this. The poor will always be with us, but it is the greatest folly not to preach Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. One may have a chance of getting out of poverty, but one thing is certain, there’s absolutely no chance of getting out of Hell.
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Majella,
I agree! Mentioning hell may be traumatic to the vulnerable sensibilities of modern man, pardon me, person! It is also not what Christ came to earth to preach (misguided Catholics don’t know that) – He came to preach the gospel of LOVE, unconditional love! Since everybody is bound for heaven anyway, why waste time talking about hell? Purgatory??? In the interests of being sensitive to the Protestants we don’t talk about that either.
Editor,
I doubt we will hear (anywhere) almsgiving explained properly,and I suspect that is because our idea of almsgiving cannot be different from the Protestantized and secularized idea of charity. That would be divisive and offend against the new religion of ecumenism. But yes, I am so tired of everybody perpetually harping on almsgiving and charity (come to think of it, I have yet to hear the virtue of charity explained properly either).I wish we had an SSPX chapel in our state.
Sorry for the disgruntled post- Lentfest did that to me!!!!! A novel way to trivialize yet another Catholic practice!
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Do you know I think part of the problem is that a lot of modern priests don’t actually believe in Hell!
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This travesty may be disgusting, but it’s really not surprising. In the modern crypto-Catholic Church, there really isn’t very much wrong with the “People of God,” since they have replaced Our Lord on the altar. Consequently, they are not going to remind themselves of the sinful shadows that, though they refuse to see them, are gathering around their souls.
So the dumbed-down version of Lent is merely a corporate retreat, where one reflects on, for example, how one is contributing to global warming, offending homosexuals, failing to reach out to Muslims, or violating the separation of Church and State, and does penance by writing a check to Archbishop Nichols for all his wonderful work in promoting the homosexual lifestyle.
Meanwhile, the father of lies can’t believe how easy it is these days to enslave souls. No doubt he thinks he’s already won that apocryphal bet he placed with Our Lord over 100 years ago, wherein he boasted that he could destroy the Church in 100 years.
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How often nowadays do you hear of people, like those Catholics in Shrewsbury, being encouraged to contemplate final judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory. Not often. Those of us who are fortunate to attend the SSPX, do hear this preached this lent.
People being afraid to hear of such things? Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were terrified at being shown hell at Fatima. Our Lady told them this is were poor sinners go. She encouraged them to pray and practice penance, so that sinners would not end up their.
Glasgow’s lentfest? This sounds like some kind of happy spring festival to be spent just enjoying one’s self. Where is the final judgement, heaven, hell, purgatory, prayer and penance we need to hear about. After all, when we die it is then too late to do something towards gaining heaven for eternity.
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Absolutely priests do not preach about hell these days. That’s seen as “negative”.
Buddy, I’ve never forgotten that the photo of the three Fatima seers after the miracle of the sun, shows them all looking extremely serious. This is because they had seen hell and could not forget it. You’d think they’d be smiling and delighted at having been proved truthful, that the miracle occurred as prophesied to the day and the hour, but no, instead they are looking very solemn, and that’s why – they had seen hell. Isn’t that a sobering thought?
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Sixupman, I have friends in Liverpool Archdiocese who are over the moon that Archbishop Kelly has been replaced with such a good bishop. That is fantastic news about your parish. I hope that priest is not the only one to follow the new bishop’s leadership.
As for Lentfest – as someone else said, the name says it all. A total disgrace. Let’s hope Glasgow gets a good replacement for Archbishop Conti, similar to Bishop Davies in Liverpool.
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Zita,
I couldn’t agree with you more, and the same solemnity and dread should fill us all. To quote sister Lucy in the book Fatima in Twilight, by Mark Fellows,”plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers” floating, rising, and falling, “without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and filled us with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.” Years later Lucy said the terrible vision lasted only an instant, “thanks to our Good Mother in Heaven, Who in the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Were it not for that I believe we would have died out fright and fear.” What a frightening vision.Of course that was in 1917, and we all know now that the world has moved on, the Consecration has been done, Russia has converted to the Catholic faith, and peace reigns throughout the world. So what’s all this talk about Hell?. Lets all sign up for the Lenfest. -
You made me smile there at the end, Buddy!
One of the things I’m offering up for Lent is the people I meet who are committed to Medjugorje. They all seem to know somebody who has had an amazing experience and who’s whole life has been changed after a pilgrimage to that place. Notice, there is no mention of any vision of Hell at Medjugorje. I hope the Vatican Commission on it reaches a conclusion soon – there is only one conclusion they can possibly reach but I’m betting they will find a form of words that allows the useful idiots to keep going there for “spiritual” reasons whereas what is needed is an outright statement that the whole thing is a fabrication.
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This “Medjugorje changed my life” baloney drives me nuts.
I’ve been to Lourdes twice and it didn’t change MY life completely in that sense. Nor have I EVER heard ANYONE say that pilgrimages to ANYWHERE – including many of the approved shrines – changed their lives dramatically.
What a load of tosh it is – roll on the Vatican condemnation – and the sooner the better.
As for sermons on Hell – a 25 year old former student of mine once told me that he’d gone right through Catholic education, primary, secondary and sixth form levels never having heard any mention of Hell and never a mention in church either. And they want to be “relevant” to the young. Well, the young LOVE learning about death, judgment, heaven and hell. It beats the GGT (Green Garbage Theology) any day…
For your information, folks, the March edition went off (to UK and Ireland) in today’s post, rest of the world on Wednesday, and will be online very soon. Stand by!
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Editor,
I went to a Catholic primary school, secondary school and higher education institution and I don’t remember much on Hell. In fact, I vividly remember the first sermon on Hell I ever heard. It was given by a priest of the SSPX…I went to Confession afterwards! I tell you something, I’d rather be frightened of Hell in this life than experience it in the next!
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Your experience is not uncommon, Petrus. Hell has just been written out of the Gospels in the modern Church. The unthinking rationale for this (that God is loving) doesn’t make sense because it is irrelevant. If somone chooses to reject God, that doesn’t make God any less loving – it makes the person who rejects God, less loving!
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A visit to Lourdes changed my life significantly, and for the better. There was no vision of hell when Our Lady spoke to St Bernadette, as far as we know, yet the apparitions are deemed worthy of belief by the Church. I can only assume that Our Lady had different reasons for coming to Lourdes and for coming to Fatima. As to Medjugorje – well we will just have to wait and see what the Church decides. I am certainly not qualified to judge one way or the other.
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Eileenanne,
You might find this interesting, if you haven’t already seen it. Medjugorje:http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/medjugorje1.htm
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We’re all qualified to judge private apparitions – we follow the lead of the legitimate authority, that is, the local bishop and successive local bishops in Medj have said there is nothing supernatural happening there – various writers have suggested there is something diabolical happening there, but that is quite different. That is how we exercise our judgment. Plus anyone of average intelligence who looks at the money spinning industry of the alleged seers, can and must make a judgment – unless they’ve got money to throw away.
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I never understand this attitude, “we’ll wait until the Church decides”. The legitimate authority is the local bishop. Successive Bishops of Mostar hav repeatedly condemned this hoax. When will people wake up and listen!?! The only reason this Vatican investigation is taking place is the scale of disobedience. Bus loads keep turning up in Megadodgy despite the decision of the legitimate authority.
I just wonder what would happen if the multitudes who are decieved by this hoax turned to the Fatima message. In some ways, Megadodgy is the Anti-Fatima.
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There’s a really great article in this month’s Christian Order on Medjugorje and that is the very point made to explain the Devil’s work at Medj. That all those souls would be visiting Fatima and promoting Fatima who are now focused on this hoax instead.
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