Why would a nice priest go to hell?

By Father George David Byers

If I’m not mistaken, this is the photo that was taken of the three Fatima children just after the vision of souls falling into hell like snowflakes shown to them by our Lady of the Rosary, as our Lady of Fatima called herself. The eyes tell the story, as does the clutching of the rosary beads. We know what happens to snowflakes when they get near fire, don’t we? We don’t want anyone going to hell, do we?..

....And so, why would a nice priest – a consensus builder, always prompt with the sacraments (at least Mass, at least on weekends), and always there for meetings, even for the committee arrangement of this or that spiritual or corporal work of mercy, just pack off and go to hell, condemned by our Lord, when all along he thought — and everyone else thought — he was just, well, such a nice priest?

He would go to hell most likely for being so very nice instead of being charitable in all truth. An exam of conscience is in order. One of these days I’ll have to publish a more comprehensive list.

• Did I lead people astray in the confessional or in answers to questions outside the confessional, telling them that such and such grave sin was no sin at all, just to be nice? Did I offer them “internal forum solutions” when these are not solutions at all, and only keep people in their sin? Did I absolve them even though they did not at all want to repent and try to change their lives with the grace of our Lord? Did I neglect offering the sacrament of reconciliation?... (continued)

Read More Here