TO ALL:
The subject of Purgatory has been the subject of various threads that have been on CAF. It has been reviewed many times. For those who know nothing of the origins of the Church’s doctrine, I will repeat it here.
The idea of a place for the dead to be cleansed before entering Heaven originated with the Israelites. They considered it a “Holding Place” where souls are purified before entering Heaven ( Early Jewish historians, such as Philo and Josephus, have written about it ). To speed up the process of purification, the Jews say a prayer for the dead, the Kaddish. In the 2d book of Maccabees ( which Protestants reject but Catholics and Jews accept as scripture ), Judas Maccabbee states “it’s a Holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead”.
Since Christianity is a fulfillment and continuation of Judaism, the Catholic Church has continued, defined, and expanded on this “Holding Place”. Souls destined for Heaven are purged ( purified ) in this place, therefore the term “Purgatory” is used. This term means “to purge, clean, purify”.
Almost all Jews of today, including Orthodox Jews, believe in this holding place and say prayers for their departed loved ones. So now you can see that Purgatory is not something that was made up by the Catholic Church, but a continuation of the Jewish thought of a holding place.
There is documentation of events that have occured to prove the actual existence of Purgatory. Some of these events have been attested to by non-Catholics.
PAX DOMINI
Shalom Aleichem