[topher]

So does he believe she's in hell?

The key point is that she was a bad example, and it would be a bad example by the priest to "make light" of a sinner.

Not necessarily. But Jesus was quite clear in the Bible when He said that one should "put a yoke about their neck and be cast into the sea" rather than cause innocent people to sin. [Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2]

There is a famous story of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney (incorrupt priest). A woman came to him about a man who committed suicide. Saint Jean-Marie Vianney replied that her husband had repented before he died. (The man had leapt off a bridge, and Jean Vianney explained that before he hit the water, he had made an act of contritution).

According to the saint, the husband who had committed suicide was having his sins purged before entering heaven. Protestants do not believe in this, but this was also the belief of early Christians (to pray for the dead as was done in the book Malachi -- an Old Testament book in the original Bible).

[k2blader]

The key point is that she was a bad example, and it would be a bad example by the priest to "make light" of a sinner.

That makes sense.

But there are a lot of *living* people being bad examples too. What will be done about them?

[NYer]

There is a famous story of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney (incorrupt priest). A woman came to him about a man who committed suicide. Saint Jean-Marie Vianney replied that her husband had repented before he died. (The man had leapt off a bridge, and Jean Vianney explained that before he hit the water, he had made an act of contritution).

For non-catholics, unfamiliar with this saint, here is his remarkable story.

Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney was born in 1786 as the son of a poor farmer in the village of Dardilly, France. During his childhood he worked as a shepherd and didn't get any education until he was 20 years old.

John had always felt a call to the priesthood. His eventual entry into the seminary, especially the study of Latin, however proved to be very difficult and he twice failed his examination before finally being ordained as a priest in 1815. Thought to be incompetent, John was placed under the direction of another priest in the neighboring village. After the death of this priest in 1818, John was transferred to the remote tiny village of Ars to be the parish priest.

Here he lived a very ascetic life, ate the simplest food, wore old clothing and only slept two hours each night on a hard bed. The number of parishioners grew rapidly, as the word spread that this holy man could see into people's souls. People began coming to him from other parishes, then from all parts of France, and finally from other countries. Throughout France and the Christian world he soon became known as the "cure d'Ars" (the cure of Ars).

By the year 1855, Fr. Vianney was hearing as many as 20,000 confessions a year, spending 13 to 16 hours a day in the confessional. His direction was characterized by common sense, remarkable insight, and supernatural knowledge. As the news continued to spread, the sick were brought to Ars and many were miraculously cured.

During 30 years, Fr. Vianney claimed to experience frequent attacks of the devil. Voices, strange noises, threats, furniture being thrown about and many other demonic assaults took place almost every night. Besides all this external suffering, Fr. Vianney had physical ailments such as severe headaches, rheumatism, toothaches, fever and exhaustion.

The heroic self-sacrifice of Fr. Vianney eventually led to his death. At the age of 73 he began to have fainting spells. By the end of July he could no longer rise from his bed. Four days later on August 4, 1859, Fr. Vianney died.

Fr. Vianney was declared Venerable 13 years after his death. In 1904 when his body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt although the flesh had dried up and darkened. To this day the incorrupt body can be seen, encased in glass on a marble Altar, in Ars. In 1905 Fr. Vianney was declared Blessed. And finally in 1925 he became Saint John Marie Vianney.

[Rytwyng]

to pray for the dead as was done in the book Malachi -- an Old Testament book in the original Bible)

I think you mean the books of Maccabees, not the book of Malachi. Maccabees is where praying for the dead is found. It's part of the Septuagint but not the Palestinian canon, which is why it's been controversial since St. Jerome's time.

Malachi, by contrast, is in ALL Bibles, Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant. The passage generally cited by Evangelicals re: tithing, is in Malachi.