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A kinder, gentler purgatory
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By STAFFORD BETTY
Publication date: June 27, 2008
Section: J. ColumnistStafford Betty
A few years ago a despairing Catholic called me to ask if it was true that the church no longer believed in hell or purgatory, and that even he, about to commit suicide, would be enfolded in the forgiving arms of Jesus at the moment of death. I told him the church officially taught otherwise, and that, in addition, the evidence from other quarters -- not just Catholic teaching -- pointed in a very different direction from what he surmised. (He changed his mind about suicide and has since become a close friend.)Not only is some of that extra-Catholic evidence fascinating, sometimes even inspiring, in its own right, but it helps to bolster the church’s message that heaven and the presence of God don’t come cheap. On the other hand, the horrifying images evoked in Dante’s Purgatorio -- the ones I was raised with as a boy -- are nowhere in sight.