{"id":153347,"date":"2021-10-29T09:30:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T13:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-if-dad-doesnt-believe-in-purgatory\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T15:02:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T19:02:45","slug":"ask-a-priest-what-if-dad-doesnt-believe-in-purgatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-if-dad-doesnt-believe-in-purgatory\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ask a Priest: What If Dad Doesn’t Believe in Purgatory?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Q: My dad is a practicing Catholic and goes to church every Sunday, helps with Mass and in the past helped with RCIA. But he doesn\u2019t believe in purgatory. Will he go to hell if he doesn\u2019t believe the Church teaching on purgatory? He also doesn\u2019t think you have to confess your sins to a priest. I am very concerned about these very important Church teachings and my dad\u2019s soul. \u2013 K.<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0God alone knows the heart and soul of each person, so it’s not for any of us to say who is headed for perdition.<\/p>\n

Perhaps your dad was exposed to bad catechesis somewhere in the past, and faulty ideas sank deep roots in him.<\/p>\n

Some people get to the point of having what we call invincible ignorance. This means they are clueless about something, and anything contrary to what they believe simply doesn’t sink in. This can happen with people.<\/p>\n

If would be unfortunate if he had a role in instructing people in the RCIA and passed on faulty information about purgatory. Even worse would have been his telling people they didn’t need to go to confession. But that’s another issue.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that your dad is trying to live the faith as best he knows how. There might be a lot of good will here, especially if he attends Mass every Sunday.<\/p>\n

So what might you do?<\/p>\n

First, pray for him.<\/p>\n

Second, considering leaving pamphlets and short books around the house that explain the faith, especially materials on confession and the last things (death, judgment, heaven and hell). You might look for opportunities to share with him how the sacrament of confession has helped you. You can do this without appearing to lecture him.<\/p>\n

Third, you might want to do a little research on purgatory and the need for confession. A few possible resources would be articles on purgatory<\/a> in the Bible<\/a>, and a related video<\/a>; as well as article<\/a>s on confession<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also helpful might be our Retreat Guides on confession<\/a> and purgatory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All this might help you pass on to your dad a knowledge of the Catholic faith that he tried to pass on to you.<\/p>\n

Keep learning more with <\/span>Ask a Priest<\/a><\/p>\n

Got a question? Need an answer?<\/h3>\n

Today\u2019s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. AskACatholicPriest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just type your question HERE<\/a>\u00a0and you will get a personal response back from one of our priests at RCSpirituality. You can ask about anything \u2013 liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events\u2026 Our goal is simply to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: My dad is a practicing Catholic and goes to church every Sunday, helps with Mass and in the past helped with RCIA. But he doesn\u2019t believe in purgatory. 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He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153347"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=153347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}