“What then with the millions we have sent to hell, if these norms were not valid?” — Father Marcelino Zalba “Father Zalba, do you really believe God has carried out all your orders?” — Patty Crowley (Robert McClory, Turning Point: The Inside Story of the Papal Birth Control Commission, and…

Lent is here, and as any good Catholic knows, that means it’s time to suffer. The traditional understanding of Lent is that because Jesus was tortured and died on your behalf, you should spend some time feeling miserable about it. …

Fire & Freedom: Reasons To Doubt The Existence of Hell This post is not meant to be an extensive analysis of the doctrine of Hell and its history within Christianity. (Sources that do provide a deep dive into this topic are quoted throughout this post, or are otherwise listed at…

Even today, I can remember his words. They fester in my mind, feeding like maggots on the rotting remains of my childhood belief system: “Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells us that God owes us nothing. He could choose to take our lives tonight and send us to hell just like that…

The Church’s Stagnant Afterlife As a Catholic, I was given specific ideas about the afterlife. Hell was a fire-saturated, demon-filled place of eternal suffering. Purgatory was for souls that needed to be cleansed from minor imperfections before they moved on. Heaven was the realm of the blessed, a place where…

If you grew up in organized religion, I’m sure you have at least one devotional practice you struggle with. Mine is the Rosary — -though probably not for the reasons you’d think. One of the most persistent misconceptions about Catholicism is our alleged belief in the divinity of the Virgin…

Hot Wings in Hell: Sin Compartmentalization in the Catholic Church I don’t think I’m going to blow anyone’s hair back when I assert that there are a variety of rules in Catholicism. Going to mass every Sunday. Observing Holy Days. Getting to Confession at least once a year. Not eating…