Does your priest ever talk about Satan?

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Deidre

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When reading through the New Testament, I’ve noticed that when Jesus preached and when Paul wrote letters to the churches that even though they focused on God’s love and forgiveness and the hope of eternal salvation, they also didn’t hesitate to mention Satan, hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

It occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Catholic priest refer to Satan as a real entity to be reckoned with during a homily. Nor, have I ever heard a priest talk about hell as a consequence of mortal sin.

Maybe this is just my experience in the diocese in which I live, but I’m wondering what you’ve experienced? And what’s your opinion? I’m thinking that while the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, maybe we shouldn’t totally ignore Satan and hell lest people begin to believe they don’t even exist anymore.
 
Well :hmmm: not many direct mentions, although a few, and quite a bit of preaching on sin and the need for confession and amendment …
 
I’ve NEVER heard a Priest in my parish church or any churches near me mention Satan or Hell. They only ever talk about a loving, caring God, never a just God. Confession is never spoken about either. As a result, alot of people who attend Mass on Sunday believe there is no need for confession anymore, alot believe they don’t sin and everyone goes straight to Heaven when they die.😦 If this is the case, why did Jesus die such an horrific death on the cross?:confused:
 
There was a mention once of Satan, as a force ‘alive and active’, mainly aiming to stop a person from following Christ. No James Joyce style hellfire sermons though, which would be interesting.
 
Yes, but my parish Priest won’'t address him by name. He calls him the “old boy”. Tim
 
My parish priest is very orthodox, but his sermons focus on growing in the love of Christ and our daily walk with the Lord.
However, when the sermon warrants, he often mentions the Devil, the evil one, as a real person as well as the fallen angels too.
He also occasionally mentions hell, usually in the context of talking about us refusing the grace of God and instead choosing to be gods ourselves, which results of course in eternal damnation.

Love,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
 
We have three permanent priests and Satan and Hell are regularly talked about. They also regularly talk about the evils of abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage, and homosexual activity. They also often point out that the Confession lines are substantially shorter than the Communion lines and people should not be receiving if not in a state of grace.
In case anyone wonders if they talk about God’s love, the answer is yes more often.
 
thistle said:
We have three permanent priests and Satan and Hell are regularly talked about. They also regularly talk about the evils of abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage, and homosexual activity. They also often point out that the Confession lines are substantially shorter than the Communion lines and people should not be receiving if not in a state of grace.
In case anyone wonders if they talk about God’s love, the answer is yes more often.
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Good for your Parish!!
 
thistle said:
We have three permanent priests and Satan and Hell are regularly talked about. They also regularly talk about the evils of abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage, and homosexual activity. They also often point out that the Confession lines are substantially shorter than the Communion lines and people should not be receiving if not in a state of grace.
In case anyone wonders if they talk about God’s love, the answer is yes more often.
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s great! How do people in your parish respond? Do they get offended? Not pay much attention? Or, do you think people generally appreciate the fact that we might need to be reminded of some unpleasant facts now and then?
 
Who is he? 😃

I don’t think I heard about him or hell in 20 or so years.
 
Our pastor will mention “the evil” in this world, but always follows up with the “good” always overpowers it.

Our deacon mentioned Satan just a few weeks ago and said only the ACLU works almost as hard as Satan himself. Wow! That got my attention.
 
Deidre said:
When reading through the New Testament, I’ve noticed that when Jesus preached and when Paul wrote letters to the churches that even though they focused on God’s love and forgiveness and the hope of eternal salvation, they also didn’t hesitate to mention Satan, hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

It occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Catholic priest refer to Satan as a real entity to be reckoned with during a homily. Nor, have I ever heard a priest talk about hell as a consequence of mortal sin.

Maybe this is just my experience in the diocese in which I live, but I’m wondering what you’ve experienced? And what’s your opinion? I’m thinking that while the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, maybe we shouldn’t totally ignore Satan and hell lest people begin to believe they don’t even exist anymore.
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my priest definitely discusses satan. he warns us to avoid mortal sin and tells us the consequences sinning. he is not afraid to mention hell either. not at all.
 
Deidre said:
When reading through the New Testament, I’ve noticed that when Jesus preached and when Paul wrote letters to the churches that even though they focused on God’s love and forgiveness and the hope of eternal salvation, they also didn’t hesitate to mention Satan, hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

It occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Catholic priest refer to Satan as a real entity to be reckoned with during a homily. Nor, have I ever heard a priest talk about hell as a consequence of mortal sin.

Maybe this is just my experience in the diocese in which I live, but I’m wondering what you’ve experienced? And what’s your opinion? I’m thinking that while the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, maybe we shouldn’t totally ignore Satan and hell lest people begin to believe they don’t even exist anymore.
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Yes. But I don’t recall ever hearing about it anywhere else.
 
When the Gospel readings are about Hell or Satan, then it will be discussed–if not, then it won’t be. The homily is at the service of the Gospel readng from that day. Confession is usually preached about when the readings are heavy on forgiveness and repentence (like a few Sundays ago).
 
We have 4 priests at our parish, and only one of them (my Confessor, actually :D, who’s retired) regularly speaks about Satan. Father is from Ireland, and has a strong devotion to Our Lady. He is not afraid to deliver homilies where he talks about Satan (and yes, he uses the name Satan, as well as The Devil), mortal sin, sexual sins, contraception, the Culture of Death, etc. He never fails to mention the Grace of Jesus Christ, the protection of Our Mother Mary, and the importance of the vocations of marriage and the priesthood/religious life. We are so blessed to have him in our parish!!

No one ever claps at the end of his homilies (I wish my parish wouldn’t do this AT ALL, but they clap at the end of other priests’ homilies), but I’m sure that’s because Father is always so serious. Because of course, Hell and eternal damnation are no joking matter. I love my priest!
 
Deidre said:
When reading through the New Testament, I’ve noticed that when Jesus preached and when Paul wrote letters to the churches that even though they focused on God’s love and forgiveness and the hope of eternal salvation, they also didn’t hesitate to mention Satan, hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

It occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Catholic priest refer to Satan as a real entity to be reckoned with during a homily. Nor, have I ever heard a priest talk about hell as a consequence of mortal sin.

Maybe this is just my experience in the diocese in which I live, but I’m wondering what you’ve experienced? And what’s your opinion? I’m thinking that while the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, maybe we shouldn’t totally ignore Satan and hell lest people begin to believe they don’t even exist anymore.
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Where have you been for the last forty years?

I hate to break the news to you but a lot of Priests and Bishops don’t even believe in the existence of Satan, Lucifer or even Hell as a reality any longer. No. they are explained away as concepts that refer to existence apart from God. There is no place of punishment. Why, a loving God would never condemn someone to Hell. All will be saved no matter how they live their lives. Universal salvation is truly for all!!!. Evil is not a force to be fought. Not at all. Temptation comes from within without the outside influences of something as medieval as Satan, Lucifer or Demons.

Heck it used to be that every Diocese had an in house exorcist. Try to find one these days. And those few Priests and Bishops who do believe are marginalized, called kooks by their more up to date and right thinking colleagues and pretty much either ridiculed or ignored…

Incidentally that was one of the problems that Pope John Paul II had with the Vatican establishment. He believed in such things as the reality of Satan, demonic influence and possession, He is said to have performed at least one exorcism himself and possibly several more.
 
Deidre said:
When reading through the New Testament, I’ve noticed that when Jesus preached and when Paul wrote letters to the churches that even though they focused on God’s love and forgiveness and the hope of eternal salvation, they also didn’t hesitate to mention Satan, hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

It occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Catholic priest refer to Satan as a real entity to be reckoned with during a homily. Nor, have I ever heard a priest talk about hell as a consequence of mortal sin.

Maybe this is just my experience in the diocese in which I live, but I’m wondering what you’ve experienced? And what’s your opinion? I’m thinking that while the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, maybe we shouldn’t totally ignore Satan and hell lest people begin to believe they don’t even exist anymore.
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Well i mean , lets not make him the focus of the homily considering there much more important things to talk about but your right in the sense that people should know about him and hell etc and not come up with the idea that you’ll get into heaven living life whichever way you want.

My priest talked about satan a while ago and how some people use him as a scapegoat for their actions ( Ex: I had premarital sex but it was satan’s fault) and don’t take responsibility for their actions and do something about it ( Confession…penance…) because the only thing satan can do is tempt you to sin ( as he is the father of lies)

God Bless
Podo
 
Deidre said:
Wow, that’s great! How do people in your parish respond? Do they get offended? Not pay much attention? Or, do you think people generally appreciate the fact that we might need to be reminded of some unpleasant facts now and then?
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I don’t think people get offended. I think they appreciate a kick up the behind now and then. We have 10 Masses on a Sunday and they are all packed with people even having to stand outside and listen to the Mass via the speakers.
 
Podo2005 said:
Well i mean , lets not make him the focus of the homily considering there much more important things to talk about but your right in the sense that people should know about him and hell etc and not come up with the idea that you’ll get into heaven living life whichever way you want.

My priest talked about satan a while ago and how some people use him as a scapegoat for their actions ( Ex: I had premarital sex but it was satan’s fault) and don’t take responsibility for their actions and do something about it ( Confession…penance…) because the only thing satan can do is tempt you to sin ( as he is the father of lies)

God Bless
Podo
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Yeah, I probably didn’t word that right! Sorry! I agree that the emphasis should always be on God’s love and forgiveness, I just think that it might also be helpful to be reminded that Satan does tempt us, and it would be helpful to know how he tempts us, how to avoid falling to temptation and how to handle it if we do fall to temptation.
 
My priest mentioned it once, in regards to the killing and violence in the Middle East, saying it was Satan’s work… Not that any particular side was under Satan’s direction, just that all the violence was… Other than that, not that I can remember.
 
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