Do excommunicated people automatically go to hell?

[LVCIVS_DEI]

I have read this article and it made me wonder:
catholic.com/tracts/salvation-outside-the-church
Do people who have been excommunicated and people who do not go to church automatically go to hell?
Does the creed not say that Christ alone judges the living and the dead?
No offense intended.

 

[Zekariya]

We separate him, together with his accomplices and abettors, from the precious body and blood of the Lord and from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from our Holy Mother, the Church in Heaven, and on earth; we declare him excommunicate and anathema; we judge him damned, with the Devil and his angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire until he shall recover himself from the toils of the devil and return to amendment and to penitence. - The Excommunication Oath of the West, c. 9th century

Source: britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59650/bell-book-and-candle

 

[Speedypizza]

I have read this article and it made me wonder:
catholic.com/tracts/salvation-outside-the-church
Do people who have been excommunicated and people who do not go to church automatically go to hell?
Does the creed not say that Christ alone judges the living and the dead?
No offense intended.

Nobody goes “automatically” to hell, however many people go there, excommunicated, people who don’t go to church as well as many priests. I do not think there is any group that does not have any members in hell, except saints.

Now if you are saying that ALL people who are excommunicated and ALL people who miss church are going to hell, I will say no, not all of them. We really have no idea who makes it and who does not. A person could live a decent life by worldly standards and commit one mortal sin before they die, and that person is going to hell. A person could be a child rapist who on his death bed repents for his evil deeds and begs God to forgive him, and he is going to heaven (might have a long time in Purgatory first, but he is still saved)

Each person will be judged alone, and God alone will make the final call on who goes where. Remember also that the Church uses excommunication as a tool to help people, not damn them. Excommunication is a way for us to know who not to listen to, because they are teaching things outside of the Church. It is also for the person who is excommunicated, to let them know how far off base they have become. Let us just pretend that I was teaching RCIA, and I have been teaching a lot of New Age babble mixed in with the Faith. Talking to me about it has not worked, and even when I am removed, I am still talking to everybody I can in the Church about my weird ideas. Now the Church excommunicates me. I then wake up and see that I really must be wrong, because this in the true Church, and I return after some time. The Church will welcome me back with open arms. Like the prodigal son, I was lost and now I am found!

I will however go farther then many people on here who use “Only God knows!” as a way of not answering the questions and making it seem like MANY if not MOST of these people are magically saved right before they die. I will say that I think that most people who are excommunicated and most people who do not go to Church every week (I am not counting those who cannot go because of where they are or are to old/sick to attend) are damned. I hope for all people to make it to heaven, but I know many will not make it. I don’t think the excuse “I meant to turn my life around at some point” is going to fly. I will end with an old saying that seems to sum up my point here.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Pax

 

[bmullins]

One of the Apologists on this site answer this question in a very accurate way.

Do excommunicated people go to hell?

 

[LVCIVS_DEI]

But what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church?

 

[Luvtosew]

For what reasons can people be excommunicated???

**But what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church? **

They can go to heaven too. One does not need to be Catholic to get to heaven.

 

[ringil]

The Church does not say who goes to Hell. The only authoritative statements regarding the afterlife can lie in the cannonization of Saints. The Church assures us that these people are in heaven.

 

[Buck_Crosswhite]

Do excommunicated people automatically go to hell?

But what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church?

Yep they all go to hell.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

The only excommunicated people who go to hell are those who are unrepentant of their sins and the reason for their excommunication at the time of their death.

 

[meltzerboy]

Yep they all go to hell.

Unless you are saying this in jest, you must have some secret knowledge that no one else in the Catholic Church (or elsewhere) has, for I’m almost sure this kind of blanket statement is not Church teaching.

 

[LVCIVS_DEI]

I am not getting a clear answer on this subject.
So what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church?
Luvtosew says:
“They can go to heaven too. One does not need to be Catholic to get to heaven”
And Buck Crosswhite says:
“Yep they all go to hell”
Where is a theologian when you need one?.

 

[bmullins]

Unless you are saying this in jest, you must have some secret knowledge that no one else in the Catholic Church (or elsewhere) has, for I’m almost sure this kind of blanket statement is not Church teaching.

You are correct, it is most definitely NOT church teaching.

 

[LVCIVS_DEI]

You are correct, it is most definitely NOT church teaching.

Biggest Sigh of relief in recorded history

 

[bmullins]

I am not getting a clear answer on this subject.
So what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church?
Luvtosew says:
“They can go to heaven too. One does not need to be Catholic to get to heaven”
And Buck Crosswhite says:
“Yep they all go to hell”
Where is a theologian when you need one?.

While the Catholic church shows you the ‘right’ way to do things, there is no guarantee that being a Protestant condemns one to hell. To say that a protestant goes to hell is saying “I know for sure that this person cannot die in grace.” Only God knows who dies in grace. Anyone can make an act of perfect contrition. All Christians that are baptized in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit share a common baptism. It’s not up to us to say they can’t get to Heaven… any of us can go to hell, but only God determines who does.

 

[LVCIVS_DEI]

While the Catholic church shows you the ‘right’ way to do things, there is no guarantee that being a Protestant condemns one to hell. To say that a protestant goes to hell is saying “I know for sure that this person cannot die in grace.” Only God knows who dies in grace. Anyone can make an act of perfect contrition. All Christians that are baptized in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit share a common baptism. It’s not up to us to say they can’t get to Heaven… any of us can go to hell, but only God determines who does.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=8732533#post8732533
But in this thread it is says that if one does not attend mass he or she can not be in a state of grace…

 

[coachkfan1]

Unless you are saying this in jest, you must have some secret knowledge that no one else in the Catholic Church (or elsewhere) has, for I’m almost sure this kind of blanket statement is not Church teaching./QUOTE

This is something that should not be even said in jest.

 

[ringil]

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=8732533#post8732533
But in this thread it is says that if one does not attend mass he or she can not be in a state of grace…

It’s more complicated than that. See my signature.

 

[JoArtist]

Remember, Joan of Arc was excommunicated and now she is a recognized saint. So, no, you do not automatically go to Hell if you are excommunicated.

 

[bmullins]

Only God knows if they are in a state of grace. Would it be more difficult to receive the grace that the Eucharist gives us without it? Very much so. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways of receiving grace. The CCC goes into detail about it:

818 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers … All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."272

819 "Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth"273 are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements."274 Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him,275 and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."276

 

[Holly3278]

For what reasons can people be excommunicated???

**But what about Protestants, Anglicans and people in the Old Catholic Church? **

They can go to heaven too. One does not need to be Catholic to get to heaven.

It is true that one does not necessarily have to be Catholic to make it to Heaven. However, Catholics receive far more graces than non-Catholics and therefore a Catholic will have an easier time getting to Heaven if they take advantage of those graces than a non-Catholic would.