Letters to the editor: Eternal damnation is past its expiry date

A reader contends that the Catholic Church ought to follow up its disposal of limbo by dispensing with the idea of hell

Letter writer John Fitzgerald says Fr Seán Sheehy’s controversial sermon in Listowel two weeks ago has rekindled debate about the existence of hell. File picture: Domnick Walsh

Fr Seán Sheehy’s controversial sermon in Listowel two weeks ago has rekindled debate about the existence or otherwise of hell. But while hell may have been on a liturgical back-burner for a few decades in Ireland, the Catholic Church definitely does teach that it’s there, and that human beings who die in a state of mortal sin may find themselves in this ghastly place of suffering … for all eternity.

Other Christian sects also incorporate a belief in hell.