Fate in Life

[Gareth]

My Friend is a Catholic, he will publically defend the faith, and stands by it to a degree.

He was baptized, Confirmed and has taken communion.

Later in his life, like many of us, he has neglected his faith. He has doubts about key aspects of Catholic doctrine, such as the authority of the Pope, Marian Doctrines, and some (or perhaps all) of the Mircales in the bible.

What would the church’s opnion on the fate of his soul be should he pass away in this current position of belief?

note I said he still defends the Chruch and also note, he lives a reasonably moral life, I gather he is curious to know.

Thanks
Gareth

 

[Tietjen]

Gareth:

My Friend is a Catholic, he will publically defend the faith, and stands by it to a degree.

He was baptized, Confirmed and has taken communion.

Later in his life, like many of us, he has neglected his faith. He has doubts about key aspects of Catholic doctrine, such as the authority of the Pope, Marian Doctrines, and some (or perhaps all) of the Mircales in the bible.

What would the church’s opnion on the fate of his soul be should he pass away in this current position of belief?

note I said he still defends the Chruch and also note, he lives a reasonably moral life, I gather he is curious to know.

Thanks
Gareth

The fate of his soul is something only God can decide on. I find it very sad though that someone BELIEVES that they are defending something that they themselves don’t accept. I hope that he will consider speaking with a priest and getting a better understanding of Church teaching. I was a “cradle Catholic” and when I was a young adult, I went through a rebellious time when it came to some of the Church’s teachings. It was caused by a lack of understanding on my part. As I grew older, and learned and matured more, I came to realize that certain aspects of the Catholic faith were not incorrect simply because I didn’t agree with or want to believe them. When someone of any religion takes, only those things that he/she wants to believe in out of a religion and leaves the rest behind, they’ve created another religion apart from the original. Luther did this, as have many others throughout the centuries. Many in the pews today do it still; people who claim to be Catholic and yet see nothing wrong with abortion, using contraceptives, etc. These people are often referred to as “cafeteria-Catholics.” They believe that they have some special insight that the Church lacks in it’s 2000 year existence. However, just because a person doesn’t believe in or accept a certain fact, doesn’t make that fact illegitimate. Can an insane man who believes he can defy gravity, throw himself off a skyscraper and fly?
If I were friends with your friend, I’d have to ask him what it is he’s defending if he can find fault with the Bible and with God’s Church, when he himself strips it and disregards those things that he chooses to do away with. Furthermore, if he can decide what is and is not worthy of being believed in, then how can he make a defense against someone else doing the same thing that he himself is doing? Unless he considers himself to be the sole authority over what is to be accepted and believed; in which case he might as well call his church, “your friend’s name goes here church” instead of the Catholic Church.

 

[pseudoanselm]

<Later in his life, like many of us, he has neglected his faith. He has doubts about key aspects of Catholic doctrine, such as the authority of the Pope, Marian Doctrines, and some (or perhaps all) of the Mircales in the bible.

What would the church’s opnion on the fate of his soul be should he pass away in this current position of belief?>

Gareth, please reply to this. I’m testing whether the email response feature is working. I should get an email when you reply.

---

Doubt is often something that can lead to a greater faith. Remember St. Thomas the Apostle. He needed to see and God showed him.

Personally, I think intellectual doubt is natural and not sinful as long as you don’t will it. In other words, an intellectual doubt about some article of faith will motivate you to learn more about it and understand it better.

He may be going thru a stage where he’s just not taking things for granted anymore. If the only basis for his faith in Marian Doctrines was that his parents told him they were true, then he’s lacking the conviction that comes from study and analysis.

Doubt comes upon us all. It’s what we do with it that determines sin.

 

[wcknight]

We can only pray that God understands folks going through periods of doubt and disbelief. My daughter was an atheist for a time and my older son is now a self professed atheist.

My daughther has since resolved that God exists, but is not sure what faith she wants to follow.

I pray that both with return to the Church and faith with which they were taught and raised.

I think many folks go through such period of doubt and soul searching. I went through it for about 10 years, so I can understand what each of them are/were going through. Each has to find their own way. We have to have faith that God will lead them home, as He most certainly led me home. I talk with them about the Church and what I believe, and they know I am very active with the Church.

At some point the Light will turn on again for them, and hopefully they will be stronger for it.

I think that as long as they lead upright lives as best they know how, God will still judge them kindly. Just because they do not believe in the same fhings exactly as they were taught, they still treat folks with respect, they still love their neighbors, they are concerned about the oppressed, they are charitable, and are upright decent people.

We will all be judged on love, and on that scale they will pass with flying colors.

 

[Gareth]

Thanks for the responses I think it’s interesting that the ‘Handbook for Today’s Catholic’ specifically mentioned people like this, and for that matter people like myself when it says:

“…we should not jump to conclusions. For example, there are people who remember their father as a man who inflicted pain on them. As a result these people cannot bring themselfves to belive in God as their “Good Father.” This is not a lack of faith. It is a lack of of memory images through which these persons can appreciate God as Father. Negative mental images can block a person from recieving God’s self-revelation in a particular form”

pg 15, Handbook to the catholic Church 1994. (this book is sanctioned)

I will print these posts out and show them to him, so the more posts the better. I note a poster above wondering about what he defends when he rejects so much, and I’ll say this, out of my own opinion, the Church is our Holy Mother, and maybe it’s like our earthly mothers’ we can critcize them but heaven help anyone else who dares as we quickly jump to defend the same faults we early criticized…

Thanks
Gareth

 

[pseudoanselm]

<For example, there are people who remember their father as a man who inflicted pain on them. As a result these people cannot bring themselfves to belive in God as their “Good Father.”>

Yes. There’s a book by M. Scott Peck called “The Road Less Traveled”. It covers the correlation between a child’s relationship with his or her father and their ability to relate to God as a Father.