Worried about my parents future after death

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mkipp

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I am very close to my parents and love them very much. But, lately I have been thinking about the future and how they are getting older. They are now 57 and all I can seem to think is what will happen when they are gone and it scares me. My parents came to visit this weekend and we had such a great family time with our daughter. But, they are not Catholic and it worries me that they have not come home to the church. I was wondering if any of you have parents that are not Catholic and how you feel about their future in heaven? I know that we don’t know who is in heaven, but I just want to help my parents get there. I just want to know that my parents will be okay. Thanks for any advice or thoughts. God Bless.
 
Hi, Your parents are still young. My dad died at the age of 96yrs.old. My mom is 88yrs.old and still alive. I am 70yrs.old. So you see, you don’t need to worry that they will die soon of old age.

Only God decides who goes to HEAVEN. Nobody here on this planet can tell you for sure that your parents will not go to Heaven.

If your parents are in God’s grace which means that they are good people I am pretty sure they will go to heaven. I don’t think they have to be Catholics. I don’t think that God turns his back on good people who do good in our world.

Maybe as they get older they will take an interest in attending the Catholic church.
Pray for them every day that they see how important it is for them to join the Catholic Church so you will have peace of mine.

I used to wonder if my old dad was going to heaven. But before he died a priest went to visit him for four days to pray for his soul and bless my dad before he died. He had a peaceful death.

I am sure there are other people who worry the way you do and will be able to give you some better advise than mine. I believe that God loves us all unconditionally.

Jesus was God and a very forgiving person where ever he went and met sinners and nice people. He always forgave the sinners. He will be there for your parents too.
 
I think what scares me is losing my dad, as he is my best friend. We are 5 hours away and talk almost every day. He was brought up Catholic and has no interest in returning, nor does my mother, as they are both Congregationalist now. It seems that all the men on my dad’s side of the family die around 65, and it makes me worry that I have a short amount of time left.
 
You can present to them Catholic ideas step by step, pray for them, and pray with such promised devotions as the Green Scapular…

I’d also recommend the 15 prayers of St. Bridget…

Prayers with promises.
 
If they are not hostile to the Church…can you just tell them what you have told us here? That you love them and wish for them to spend eternity in heaven? Maybe you could leave some apologetics books with them. I don’t see how any parents could turn down a daughter who loves them so much :).
 
I am actually their son. But, they are extremely liberal and do not agree with many of the church’s views and teachings. They are baptized Christians, and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I pray for my parents to come to the Catholic Church, do any of you do this for your parents?
 
I think it’s great for you to present Catholic teachings to them, but if I were you I wouldn’t worry about their souls if they don’t revert. They’re Christians, after all…
 
mkipp said:
I am very close to my parents and love them very much. But, lately I have been thinking about the future and how they are getting older. They are now 57 and all I can seem to think is what will happen when they are gone and it scares me. My parents came to visit this weekend and we had such a great family time with our daughter. But, they are not Catholic and it worries me that they have not come home to the church. I was wondering if any of you have parents that are not Catholic and how you feel about their future in heaven? I know that we don’t know who is in heaven, but I just want to help my parents get there. I just want to know that my parents will be okay. Thanks for any advice or thoughts. God Bless.
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As long as your parents are doing what they sincerely believe is the right thing, aren’t they immune from committing a mortal sin?
 
Hi Mkipp,
You’ve been given some good advice here, and Lalucia has specifically said it well. You say your parents are ‘Congregationlists’. Well, they continue to embrace the Christian faith, -that’s a wonderful thing. They could be doing a lot worse. Personally (in my gut feeling) I think that many Protestants (over some Catholics) will have a better room in God’s mansion. There is usually a bigger story involved when Catholics leave to a Prostestant religion. Read 838 in the Catechism.

As for the timing of your father’s death, -my Dad’s situation is similar. Many of the men in his family died in their 40s. My Dad is living (in his own home) at 87. BTW, he and my Mom (with him still), left the Church 45 years ago over a misunderstanding with a priest. They do not attend any Church. But who are the couple that are always helping their neighbours, never saying no to anyone. They are poor, on very little pension, but they put themselves last. I tend to think that God is at least smiling when they do good works (which is from their hearts).

And finally, we do not know when anyone of us will leave this world. First of all, remember that we are on this earth with the main purpose of ‘leaving it’. We spend a very short time here to then go on to our ‘real’ eternal life. Try to focus your thoughts on simply enjoying your father every day. You are so blessed already to have a Dad that you can talk to every day. And pray. Everyday, pray. And leave the rest in God’s hands. I believe that that’s what He wants you to do, He’s in charge, Trust Him. My prayers are with you.
 
mkipp said:
I am actually their son. But, they are extremely liberal and do not agree with many of the church’s views and teachings. They are baptized Christians, and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I pray for my parents to come to the Catholic Church, do any of you do this for your parents?
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Yes, I do pray for my mother to come to see the wisdom of the Catholic Church. My father has already died, and I actually think he is in better shape than my mother is, because as far as I know he never was presented with the truth of the Catholic Church, and thus didn’t reject it. I converted after he died.

Most distressing is that my mother is pro-abortion (Yes, this is what she calls herself, not pro-choice). We have had many discussions about this, with her not budging an inch. She seems like a Christian in so many other ways–going to her Episcopal church, helping the poor, etc. It is so hard for me to understand why she doesn’t see that killing unborn children is wrong. So I understand how you feel. We have to just keep witnessing to them and praying for them.
 
mkipp, Have a talk with your dad that you don’t want him to die young. That you want him to live as long as he can. I think that message will inspire him to try to take better care of himself and live a longer life than your ancestors.

My dad almost died when he was in his 70’s. He was very ill. I had a talk with him and said that I didn’t want him to die yet. I told him I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I asked him to give me one more year. He said he would give me more two years…but he lived for many more years until it was his time to die. When he died I took it very well since he died in his bed with a priest to pray for his soul. My dad was not the type of person to attend church at all.
One day I told him he needed to pray for his soul and he said that he was. I truly believe he went to heaven because one day I was wondering if he got to heaven.

My dad sent me a message in my dreams that he was okay and he said to me… that he loved me very much and filled my garden with beautiful flowers of all colors. THIS WAS A DREAM…and I woke up real happy.

Your parents have what I call Catholic souls and when they die they will most likely want a priest to give them the final rites before they die.
I consider them culteral Catholics which means that they will always be Catholics eventhough they are attending another Christian church.

Remember what I told you before? Jesus who is God will be there to speak to God our Father in behalf of your parents when they die. There is no reason to worry.

We are all like flowers… we bloom and then we die. Don’t be afraid of death because your parents will still live on in your heart and memory. You will have dreams about them and they will send you messages from heaven.

You have already started greiving the lost of your dad which you know that someday he will die. In some ways that is good so when he really dies you will have already greived his lose. I think that is a strange statement to make but I think there is some truth in there because that is what happened to me. But we all grieve in different ways.

STOP THINKING ABOUT DEATH and enjoy the time you have with your parents.
We never know when we are going to die. Some of us could die in an accident and some of us may live a very long life. We are all in God’s hands… don’t worry about your dad’s future. Your dad is very close to Jesus and Jesus knows his name.
 
This post really really hit home for me. I too worry about my mother, she has alzheimers, lived a pretty rough life at times. She believes in God, but I am pretty sure has never been baptized. Now with her disease she is not able to make that choice for herself. I pray that God will see her suffering as penance, and have mercy on her.
 
jgbuff said:
This post really really hit home for me. I too worry about my mother, she has alzheimers, lived a pretty rough life at times. She believes in God, but I am pretty sure has never been baptized. Now with her disease she is not able to make that choice for herself. I pray that God will see her suffering as penance, and have mercy on her.
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Jgbuff, keep praying for her. Are you the person in charge of making decisions for her? It would seem like you could make the decision to have her baptized, just like infants are baptized without making a conscious decision. Perhaps someone else would be more knowledgable about the Church’s position in the case of bapitzing an Alzheimer’s patient.
 
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