Qand A

Sample Questions and Answers from

TCA Faith

By Father Ray Ryland

Speaking in Tongues?

Q. My friend, who is also Catholic, goes to group prayer meetings where
they see God and speak in tongues. She is of Asian descent. Is this a
cultural difference, or is the Catholic Church starting this practice?

- Name withheld

A. Whatever else the people in your friend's prayer group may do, they
do not "see God." Remember when Moses asked to see God, and God told
him, "no man sees me and still lives" (Ex 33:20)? The Beatific Vision -
seeing God as He is, face-to-face - is reserved for those who are in
heaven (see 1 Jn 3:2).

Speaking in tongues is not a matter of cultural difference, but of a
particular gift of the Holy Spirit. Nor is it a new gift. From the first
days of the Catholic Church, some people have received this gift (see,
for example, 1 Cor 12). Many people in the charismatic movement in the
Church today use this gift to praise and adore God.

Pope John Paul II and other Church officials have welcomed the
charismatic movement, but they have also cautioned its participants
against some common errors and tendencies. See, for example, the Pope's
message to an international gathering of Catholic charismatic leaders in
Rome in 1998, available online by clicking here. In 2000, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued "Instructions on
Prayers for Healing" (a common practice within the charismatic
movement), which the Pope approved; visit by clicking here.



Absolution and Purgatory

Q. I have the following question for which I would like to receive a
clear understanding. Say that absolution is given by a priest after a
good confession of sins, and the person who made the confession says he
will sin no more and intends to sin no more, and will try harder not to
commit the same sins again. The person also immediately does the
penance. What if this person were to be in an accident that would take
his life immediately following his confession and absolution. Would he
be subject to time in purgatory?

- Neal Kunke, via e-mail

A. At the outset we should note that "time" is not a category applicable
to the experience of purgatory.

When we die we leave "time" behind and enter into eternity.

In the hypothetical situation you pose, the penitent's receiving
absolution would remove all guilt of his sins. It would reconcile him
not only to the Father, but also to the community that has been harmed
by his sins....