[Land of the Irish]

I guess God no longer determines who goes to Heaven or Hell. It's all in our control: if we love somebody they go to Heaven. If they love us back, we go to Heaven. God is out of the picture.

[Land of the Irish]

Ping

[sinkspur]

I'd need all my fingers and toes, and my wife's fingers and toes, and the fingers and toes of my two boys and, why, all the fingers of toes of every living human being on my block, to count the number of people you, LOI, seem eager to consign to the pits of hell.

When, in fact, you have no idea what you're talking about. Is this how traditionalists rally adherents to their cause? By their willingness to put people in HELL?

[netmilsmom]

Isn't that title what the Wizard of Oz told the tin man? ;-).

[Viva Christo Rey]

Our Sunday Vistor: "No one ever goes to Hell who has been truly loved by another"

Hmmm, didn't I see some over-aged hippie nuns selling bumper stickers with this 'profound' message at the airport? ;-)

Couldn't have been the Hare Krishnas - they have too much sense. ;-)

[Dajjal]

"All Dogs Go To Heaven" bump

[D-fendr]

Perhaps it would further the discussion to take the priest's place.

A mother writes:

"My 25-year-old son was recently killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a very good man and a good son, and he had a lot of integrity. However, he was an agnostic…. Now, I worry about his salvation. I want to believe he is with God or at least in purgatory…. Should I worry that he might be in hell?"

What would you reply?

[johnb2004]

The mother — who is a Catholic and surely raised her son to be a believer, but who died an agnostic without faith in Jesus — is right to worry that her son might be in Hell. By telling her not to worry, Mannion is causing the mother to deprive her son of needed prayers. And by broadcasting his weird opinions in the Visitor, Mannion is telling moms everywhere that it doesn’t matter if their children apostatize or commit unrepented mortal sins, that just so long as the mom loves her children and the mom (not Jesus) thinks they were "good," they go to Heaven.

[RnMomof7]

I think Hitler's mom loved him... terrible thought huh?

[gemoftheocean]

Thank goodness I don't read that paper. Mannion's "logic" is enough to make one tear one's hair out. There was a man who was one of Hitler's few friends as a teenager. He said that Hitler truly loved his mother, and she loved him. I suppose Mannion would offer that as "proof" that Hitler is in heaven.
Balderdash....to say the least.

[dangus]

>>I guess God no longer determines who goes to Heaven or Hell. It's all in our control: if we love somebody they go to Heaven. If they love us back, we go to Heaven. God is out of the picture.<<

I would say this: True prayer occurs because God calls us to prayer. There is false prayer (believing that we can assume power by praying for someone or something, thus turning prayer away from being submission to God, and into magic's vile mimicry of Christianity), and false love (caring for someone as a means of fulfilling our own desires). But if it is God who has called us to pray for someone, nothing will be denied he who prays.