Why don't priests preach about Hell these days?

[anon10271182]

So many parishes are holy like that these days. Its a good sign!

 

[Ukay]

I was moved to take things much more seriously when I began to take note of Hell and all that is written about it. This has come about recently after years of not thinking much about it at all. It was a stark and necessary wake up call and has deepened my love of Jesus no end when I think of what he has saved me from . It has made me see how ardently he loves us and what lengths he went to to warn us about the dire consequences of disregarding it. Nothing but good can come of truth, even when it hurts. What was and is important to Jesus must be important to us. The stakes just can’t be higher, it is life or death. I fear for priests and for the people who aren’t getting the leadership they need. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We need the whole story.

 

[CoeurRempli]

Why do you need to go to the church and sit in a confessional and talk to the priest and confess your sins to be saved. In John 14:6 it says, "6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

God saves us through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which heals our broken relationship with God. Jesus is the way to the Father, He is the one who makes it possible for us to have a relationship with Him and for us to be forgiven for our sins.
In the confessional, the priest isn’t a barrier between us and God. We are confessing to Jesus Himself, and the priest is there as an instrument of God’s mercy; God speaks through the priest so that we can physically hear Jesus’ words of pardon for our sins. It is healing and therapeutic, and deepens our encounter with God.
More importantly, we have confession because we believe this is how Jesus wanted us to confess and receive forgiveness for our sins.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)
Also, in James 5:16, we are encouraged to confess our sins to one another (not just to God), and in the Bible verse you cited, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. The priest in confession forgives us on behalf of the Church as well.

 

[thistle]

The Church, along with private revelations in the last 100 years (Fatima, Divine Mercy), has publicly proclaimed that we are in the ‘End Times’.

Please provide a Church document where the Church has publicly proclaimed we are in End Times. I do not believe it exists.

 

[Ioana]

Don’t worry, it does not sound like talking down at all. Coeur answered citing some Bible verses (which are what I was going to cite). Basically, though, the priest acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). The Catholic Church does state that you could technically have your sins forgiven if you go “straight to Jesus” (perfect contrition with a desire to go to sacramental confession as soon as possible) and that venial sins don’t “need” the sacrament. We don’t confess to be justified/saved (that’s baptism) but rather to be restored to baptismal grace if we reject it via mortal sin. Jesus is the way the truth and the life and Jesus left behind the sacraments. Else how do you interpret the “whose sins you forgive are forgiven” and the verses about the laying of the hands and the apostles being careful with whom they hand their ministry to? Also literally all apostolic Christian communities that still carry on to this day have this costum under one form or another.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

I really don’t get how people think that only a few are damned.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I was moved to take things much more seriously when I began to take note of Hell and all that is written about it. This has come about recently after years of not thinking much about it at all. It was a stark and necessary wake up call and has deepened my love of Jesus no end when I think of what he has saved me from .

I had a similar experience last year, although I would include Purgatory as well as Hell.
At the time I started thinking about Hell and Purgatory again, I had returned to the Catholic faith and been practicing in terms of going to Sunday Mass and regular confession for about a year, but not doing too much other than that.
Reading the private revelations of a number of saints regarding Hell and Purgatory made me realize I should be doing more than the minimum requirements.

 

[bobperk]

I have to listen to youtube homilies to hear a priest mention hell…mine never does.

 

[sudy]

My local priest doesn’t mention it very often, either …if at all, so I agree there should be a better balance. As Steve mentioned, Our Lord spoke more about Hell than anyone else. I don’t think it’s an easy call to make, though. It’s more important, in my opinion, to preach about God’s love first and foremost. People in this day and age are entering the Church from a variety of sinful and complex situations and need to be assured of His love in order to grow in this faith and to gain a desire to change their ways. Faith isn’t an overnight thing, and overcoming sin isn’t, either …at least that’s been my own experience. God assures us that, when we confess our sins, even if our sins are as scarlet, they’ll be as white as snow. If we forgive, we are forgiven, ‘love covers a multitude of sins’, and ‘mercy triumphs over judgement’. So I reckon it’s more important to teach love of God and neighbour.

 

[wkj_123]

I think you hit the nail on the head. As time goes on and society moves further away from older mindsets where hell made sense it seems to put Christianity in a difficult position. It seems the only position that ome can take is to say “well you choose to go there”. Hell used to be presented in a much different way than it is today. It seems to have softened up to, well it’s mostly about separation from God and you choose it rather than the hell fire and brimstone sermons of the past.

 

[AugustTherese]

AugustTherese:

The Church, along with private revelations in the last 100 years (Fatima, Divine Mercy), has publicly proclaimed that we are in the ‘End Times’.

Please provide a Church document where the Church has publicly proclaimed we are in End Times. I do not believe it exists.

“Already the final age of the world has come upon us and the renovation of the world is irrevocably decreed and is already anticipated in some kind of a real way; for the Church already on this earth is signed with a sanctity which is real although imperfect. However, until there shall be new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church in her sacraments and institutions, which pertain to this present time, has the appearance of this world which is passing and she herself dwells among creatures who groan and travail in pain until now and await the revelation of the sons of God.” Lumen gentium, Chapter VII, THE ESCHATOLOGICAL NATURE OF THE PILGRIM CHURCH
AND ITS UNION WITH THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_...s/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

 

[steve-b]

steve-b:

pre Vat II , rounding of the numbers, 80% of Catholics went to mass faithfully on Sunday, 20% didn’t. Post Vat II, 80% don’t go to mass on Sunday, and 20% do go to mass faithfully

Pre Vatican II, the people in Catholic dominated Italy, Spain, Bavaria etc. supported Fascist/ Nazi governments.

Don’t mistake Nazi occupation which was by force, with support by the people.

Dovekin:

Post Vatican II, the church has been dedicated to peace and justice. IF the imagery of hell and condemnation prompted people to support oppression, or even IF it just reflected great evil already in the world, it is good that we have moved away from it.

"IF" is a qualifier. I don’t accept either qualification proposed.

Everything that is that came into and will come into existence, was already known by God from all eternity, before any of it came / comes into being. Hell exists for a reason. ANYONE who downplays Hell as if it is some theory made up by man, as a scare tactic, to control man, will be sorely shocked someday.

Dovekin:

St Faustina had her visions, wrote her diaries in Poland in the 1930s. I think it understandable that God showed people burning in agony as the example not just of evil, but also of evil’s punishment. There are still threats like that in our day, but they are rarely tear-the-fabric-of-the-universe and make unquenchable fire.

And that’s why Jesus warned us, that in the end, “few are saved”. Saved from WHAT? Hell. No one can argue that few have fear of hell today if It’s even on people’s radar screen.

 

[margaret42]

It may not be in all of the homilies, but Jesus makes it pretty clear in different parables that there are two roads to take.

 

[Dovekin]

IF" is a qualifier. I don’t accept either qualification proposed.

Neither do I accept any of your hypotheticals about mass attendance, Vatican II, or Hell. If you want to rephrase your position without those hypotheticals, we might get somewhere.

Jesus warned us, that in the end, “few are saved”

I am not sure what you refer to. I know when Jesus was asked if few will be saved (Luke 13:22), his answer ended with:

“People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

 

[mythbuster1]

They are cowards without faith in the Gospel or in their parishoners. Yes, some lukewarm souls may leave, but virtuous and penitent souls will take their place, and what money they lose will be more than replaced. “My word will not return to Me void,” says the Lord.

 

[mythbuster1]

That’s not the problem. The problem is that their carnal minds have no appreciation for the pain of loss. Them who have no care for God do not comprehend what it means to be cast out of His presence, spending eternity in despair knowing they threw away eternal joy, and being ever haunted and mocked by their sins.

 

[wkj_123]

Well for people who don’t believe in God it’s kind of hard to worry about being separated from God. Plus people who don’t believe in god get the same message about hell from other religions for not believing in their particular god. With multiple religions slinging it it certainly reads like obey my God or else scare tactic.

 

[anon10271182]

My goodness, how triggering all this Hell talk is! I have to go to my safe space and draw a picture of pretty Hell now!
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[mythbuster1]

I once heard a homily on the Parable of the Ten Virgins, during which the priest not once mentioned death nor the Second Coming, and thereby also omitted the things that go with them.

 

[steve-b]

steve-b:

IF" is a qualifier. I don’t accept either qualification proposed.

Neither do I accept any of your hypotheticals about mass attendance, Vatican II, or Hell. If you want to rephrase your position without those hypotheticals, we might get somewhere.

They aren’t hypotheticals.

I rounded the numbers to 80/20

Re: the actual stats
78% of Catholics don’t go to mass except maybe twice a year, Christmas and Easter.

Those stats come from Georgetown Univ

Jesus warned us, that in the end, “few are saved”

Dovekin:

I am not sure what you refer to. I know when Jesus was asked if few will be saved (Luke 13:22), his answer ended with:

“People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Add them up and they make up a few who are saved.