Thanks for chiming in David. I need a real Catholic around here to temper me. I’m going through a hard time.

I read the list, and I only see one that approaches what I wrote. I hope they are all correct. Nice thing about the internet is the best answer is always a click away, no matter what you’ve heard all your life from both sides.

2 Maccabees. Hooooooha! I can’t teach the books I have to cover in my classes now!

And thanks for this one: The Indulgence controversy was all a misunderstanding.

One never could “buy” indulgences. The financial scandal around indulgences, the scandal that gave Martin Luther an excuse for his heterodoxy, involved alms-indulgences in which the giving of alms to some charitable fund or foundation was used as the occasion to grant the indulgence. There was no outright selling of indulgences.
“Outright” is a good word. Very useful to lots of characters on TBN who often seem to promise healing, etc for a donation.

Here’s the summary:

Some imagine that the Catholic Church has an elaborate doctrine of purgatory worked out, but there are only three essential components of the doctrine: (1) that a purification after death exists, (2) that it involves some kind of pain, and (3) that the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings by the living to God.
Works for me….and if it’s true, count me out. Totally out. “Some kind of pain.” Wow.

BTW- if it’s not a “place,” then the term “purgatory” should just be replaced with “Final sanctification.” What’s the chance of that?