These topics, which to my mind are really one topic, are often cited by secularists, liberals, radical feminists, some Protestants and even “cafeteria” Catholics as issues with Catholic Church teachings. Some see the family as an outdated notion, or one that can be formed, dissolved and formed again to suit changing personal interests. Sex is for enjoyment as long as it is consensual and “safe.” The number of partners and sexual orientation is irrelevant. Life begins and ends when it is convenient – often no sooner than natural birth and lasts until it is decided the quality of life has reached some personal threshold.

The Catholic Church could not disagree more!

One viewpoint elevates the plans and desires of the individual. The other recognizes God’s will as paramount in respecting the sanctity and dignity of all human life. Some are disobedient to God (see What harm is a little sin?) and erroneously assume – with Satan’s subtle encouragement – that obedience would be a hardship. By following their own path into the darkness they are lost and will not find the true happiness they seek.

The Church teaches marriage as a vocation. It is not a shared housing arrangement of “friends with benefits.” It is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman to each other and if so blessed, their children. Family life provides the structure in which children can be properly nurtured and grow.

But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Mark 10:6-12

Catholics enjoy sex! It strengthens the loving bonds of husband and wife and may bear the happy fruit of offspring. Contrast that with the many “recreational” abuses of sex that are sinful and harmful to the participants. They are disordered and often unnatural. Sometimes the harm is obvious and soon apparent, other times more subtle, accumulating over time. Some examples include premarital sex, contraception, pornography, masturbation, adultery, homosexual acts, promiscuity, immodesty and abortion.

Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.

CCC 2353

Few issues are as poignant as abortion. The Church teaches life begins with the miracle of conception through the action of the father, the mother and God. That newly created life is as existent and sacred as all human life, regardless how unplanned or inconvenient it may be. For parents to exercise a supposed “choice” to “terminate” their child is intrinsically a grave evil.

The other side of life is equally important. Euthanasia is the unnatural and purposeful ending of life. It replaces God’s will with our own to determine when and how life may end.

Purgatory has a bad rap. Often it is considered synonymous with hell, and it is quite the opposite. Purgatory is not in Satan’s domain. Even when people understand that, they often label it as one of those “weird Catholic things.”

Let me ask you a question. Consider if, while you are reading this blog – heaven forbid – you were to have a fatal stroke. Are you ready to enter heaven right now? Put another way, what would you think of heaven if it were filled with people as they are at the moment (forgiven but carrying the weight of a lifetime of sin)?

You may be a saint and therefore good-to-go on immediately entering heaven. For me, being a saint is a goal to strive for – the Catholic Church calls on each of us to be one. I am not proud to report that I am still struggling to get there. If I die right now, I need something between where my soul is at the moment and where it must be. I do not want to lower the standard by entering heaven as I am!

The fix for this problem is purgatory. The word is related to “purge,” and its function is to cleanse us of the temporal remnants of the sins we have committed. Those who enter purgatory will enter heaven. It is cause for great relief! All this is, of course, totally foreign to my Protestant upbringing but is something that really clicked when I understood it.

I like to think of purgatory as a very special hospital. One in which 100% of the patients will have a successful outcome — guaranteed. However, like all hospitals, the treatment may be uncomfortable, and your stay will be as long as necessary. No one looks forward to a hospital stay.

In the old days the Catholic Church tried to figure out a formula for how long that stay might be. The truth is, no one knows. Nor do they know how painful it may be. However long it is, it is finite. In the scope of eternity it is but a moment.

Wait you say – stop right there. If I have been saved and am going to heaven, then are not my sins forgiven? Yes, absolutely. However the sins you committed, while forgiven, have left a scar on your soul. Sometimes this is compared to a nail driven into wood. The nail represents sin, and the wood is your soul. When the nail is removed (forgiven) it leaves the hole which represents the lasting damage. When you look back on the sins you have committed, forgiven though they are, how does that make you feel? That is what I am talking about.

Our time in purgatory may be mitigated through several avenues. One is the power of prayer. Do you believe that your prayers for someone in the hospital are heard? This is the same thing. There are also things we can do (e.g. good works) – or suffer – in life which have a curative effect on our soul. This makes complete sense to me.