What is being dealt with in purgatory are sins, III. PROOFS The Catholic doctrine of purgatory supposes the fact that some die with smaller faults for which there was no true repentance, and also the fact that the temporal penalty due to sin is it times not wholly paid in this life. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm
8855: note from the RCC bible (NAB). I read the Bible, not the notes. NAB is generally a horrible translation, so I would not trust it for the note either.
Well, the NAB is the accepted bible of the RC (it has a picture of Pope John on the inside cover) and yet goes against some of your own church Father's'views!
While this passage presents considerable difficulty, it is regarded by many of the Fathers and theologians as evidence for the existence of an intermediate state in which the dross of lighter transgressions (emphasis added) will be burnt away, and the soul thus purified will be saved.
Note, the paragraph say's 'transgressions', but the passage says nothing of transgressions or sins, only works.
This is correct on its face but incomplete. The Catholic teaching is that sins are of two kinds: mortal sin and venial sin. Mortal sins involve a grave matter and full cooperation of informed mind. Unconfessed mortal sin condemns to eternal hell and so a soul burdened by it is not found in purgatory; likewiese it is not contemplated in 1 Cor 3, because that soul ends up saved.
Venial sin are minor or committed without a full cooperation of informed mind. They can therefore be described as transgressions or imperfections, that are not of Christ. These do not condemn to hell and are purified in the saved soul. This is consistent with 1 Cor 3 even if a the generic word, "works" is used and the parable of a building is used.
It is also important to know in this context that mortal/venial sin distinctions do not neatly map into hell/purgatory destination. That is because in addition to venial sin, another works that require passage through purgatory before heaven are consequences of confessed sin. For example, a thief who confesses the theft is saved because the theft is forgiven; but the harm that he caused in others still calls for justice, especially if he was unable to repay the victim. The analogy that best describes it is that if one suffers from cancer and the tumor is removed, his life is saved, but the surgical wound still needs to heal. The metaphorical language of a soul likened to a building that has perfect and imperfect parts and is purified of imperfections through fire before that soul is saved, -- is a good description of purgatory, no matter what words are employed in the metaphore.