Fr. Michael P. Orsi: "Losing our understanding of life after death"


Adapted from Homiletic & Pastoral Review, July 2008.


If we lose our Catholic understanding of life after death, we will lose our understanding of how to live our lives in this world...

"I recently read the obituary of a priest in my diocesan newspaper.

"After telling the salient facts of his past ministry, it ended on the chilling note, In lieu of flowers and Mass cards, donations may be made to a memorial fund.

"The address of his parish was provided.

"The request for donations in lieu of Masses is indicative of two problems that have seeped into our contemporary Catholic culture and given rise to grave misunderstandings of life after death.

"The first is that it bypasses the Church's teaching on purgatory.

"The second -- even more pernicious -- is that it is totally secular and devoid of any understanding of true transcendence.

"The following statistics help to bolster these assertions.

"A recent Beliefnet.com survey asked Catholics, When you die, what do you think will probably happen?

"Of the approximately 1,400 respondents, 50.9 percent answered:

I will go to heaven.

"16.3 percent said:

I will go to purgatory.

"0.4 percent said:

I will go to hell.

"4.2 percent said:

I will be reincarnated.

"22.5 percent said:

I will leave my body and return to a source of divine consciousness.

"5.8 percent answered:

Other.