Do all Catholics go to Hell?

Her catechist was worried.  The normally cheerful and bright eyed little 8 year old (who we'll call Ella) entered her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium with a decidedly different aspect this particular Wednesday.  When the catechist went over to check in as she was doing her individual work later in the session, Ella looked even more upset and gave her worry words:

"Do all Catholics go to hell?"

Her well-trained catechist may not have been quite ready for that question, but she knew better than to answer right away and instead prompted her for more information and why she was asking.

Ella responded, "My neighbor came over to play last night and she told me that I was going to hell because I was a Catholic. Is it true?"

As a young child, this particular catechist had experienced the exact heartbreaking accusation from well-meaning friends, so poor Ella's worry hit a chord with her.  She quietly said a prayer and responded carefully, "What do you think? Do you think it is true?"

"No."

"I don't either. You know, sometimes it is hard to know what to do in a situation like that.  What do you think you can do for your friend?"

"Pray for her?" Ella responded, her eyes softening.

"That's a good idea.  Maybe we could go to the prayer table and pray right now."  Ella and her catechist prayed intently for Ella's little friend, and she was able to go back to her work with a lighter heart and her joyful eyes were alight again as her catechist blessed her as she left the atrium that day.

Not the First, Not the Last

When the catechist finished restoring her atrium that night, she came to me and shared the story. This was not the first time nor probably the last that I would hear of something like this that one of our parish children had to experience.

For the most part, I have not had to deal with too many people who have been so confident as to pronounce that kind of judgement on others, but I have had people exclaim in surprise, "Wow. I've never met a Catholic like you."  (Really? I wondered. What does that even mean?) "You know, a Catholic who is a Christian!"

While this may sound kind of bizarre to Catholics who consider the word "Catholic" to automatically imply and be synonymous to the word "Christian", there is a very important lesson to be taken from this constant mistake on the part of so many of our Christian brothers and sisters.  They are so concerned about us that they even tell their children that we aren't Christian, and that if we don't get "saved" we are going to hell. Putting their judgement of our eternal damnation aside (if we can), we ought to confront their main evidence:

We don't talk about Jesus enough.  

Sure, we imply it all the time. We talk about "getting the Sacraments," we talk about going to Mass, we talk about Mary, we make the Sign of the Cross when we pray.  But what is the result of this witness we give to our neighbors?  They don't know what a Sacrament is. They don't understand the historical and theological significance of the Mass. Transubstanti-what? They take our veneration of the Blessed Mother--which is nothing more than giving her the same honor that her own Son gives her--as idol worship.  They even see the Sign of the Cross which we make to remind ourselves of the armor of God that we received when Christ saved us in our Baptism as some sort of weird thing that might actually be condemned in the Book of Revelation!

Sure, we can get angry at someone who would presume to judge our or our children's final destination, but there is a bigger opportunity here: an opportunity for evangelization. The only thing I suggested the catechist add to her conversation with Ella is to encourage her to say the thing that is so obvious that we as Catholics miss it.

Ella should say to her friend the thing that most truly represents her relationship with God: "I love Jesus more than anything.  He is my God and He saves me and protects me. He is my best friend and I love Him with all of my heart! And I know He loves me because He gives all of Himself to me and doesn't hold anything back!"

The First Principle 

If Catholics start talking like that, our non-Catholic neighbors and friends will far more easily see their own Jesus reflected in our hearts. They may even start asking us about what it is we mean by Baptism, or Eucharist, or why we make the Sign of the Cross or pray on those beads. We must remember that what is obvious to us, is not so obvious to others. We need to proclaim Jesus Christ as the first principle from which everything we believe flows, and we need to say it out loud to our children so that they may be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks them one day if they are a Christian.

"Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence..." 1 Peter 3:15b-16a.