Oh, Hell

Hell is never far from my mind and for that I am truly grateful.  It's one of the best things my parents ever did for me.  They taught me that there is a Hell and that I'm as capable of ending up there as anyone else on the planet.  It has always been a great motivating factor in my life.  Which is not to say that I do what I do out of fear.  I don't. But in a weird way, my belief in Hell was an anchor during my wilderness years, and really saved me from going completely off the deep end.  Again, not because I was afraid of it at the time, but because I knew it existed.  And if Hell existed, then so did God.

Many a Jesuit has told me that there is no Hell, or if there is, it is empty.  (The New York Times chronicled the Jesuit makeover of Hell in 1999, in an article called ""Hell is Getting a Makeover From Catholics; Jesuits Call It a Painful But Not a Sulfurous Place.") 

For a different view, one a little more sentire cum ecclesia, try this:  a characteristically wonderful article by Fr. James Schall, SJ, a Jesuit who will explain to you in clear and brilliant detail why his brother Jesuits who have erased Hell from Catholic doctrine are wrong. It's called "The Brighter Side of Hell." 

Fr. Schall's article was written in 2005, so if you want something more current, here's what the Holy Father had to say on the subject, just this week.

--KH

(Bi-locating at Some Have Hats.)