Dear Alex:

It is not "Catholic guilt" that is driving you crazy, it is a form of scrupulosity that is causing you problems.

In Catholic theology guilt is a positive emotion that leads us to question our conscience and to repent of our sins. Guilt leads us to confession. Once we have confessed our sins, those sins no longer exist and thus there is no reason for guilt any longer.

If you are still feeling guilty and worry about going to hell even after going to confession, then you are not thinking correctly. Let me try to explain Catholic teaching and to alleviate your worries.

When we confess our sins, those sins are removed from us, they are gone, they no longer exist. 1 John 1:9 states: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

We are cleanses of our sins, they are not on our soul any longer.

God says in several places in Scripture that He remembers our sins no more. Hebrews 8:12 states: "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

Hebrews 10:17 states: "'I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.' Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin."

Here God tells us that He remembers are sins no more and that because our sins are forgiven there is no longer any offering for sin (that is a reference to Old Testament issues. In modern terms that means there is no reason to continue to feel guilty or to confess again what has already been forgiven)

Roman 8:33 tells us: "Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us."

Since God has acquitted you, forgiven you in the Sacrament of Confession, why do you continue to charge yourself with sin? Is God a liar?

God says he forgives and forgets. Is God a liar that you hold on to your fears of hell when God has saved you from hell?

When you go to Confession and the priest absolves you your soul is in a State of Grace. You are heaven bound. To doubt that is to call God a liar.

There is no reason for anyone to go to hell. God provides the means to keep ourselves heaven-bound. When we sin gravely the Sacrament of Confession restores our soul to a state of Grace. While there is no reason for anyone to go to hell, many will go to hell because they reject God and His offer of salvation and forgiveness.

Accept His forgiveness. When you confess in the Sacrament ALL of your sins are forgiven. You are clean at that moment. You are heaven-bound. God says so, the Church says so, and that settles is. To doubt that is to call God and the Church liars. God and His Church are not liars.

Our job is to avoid grave sin and when we do commit grave sin to confess in the Sacrament of Confession.

Not going to Sunday Mass, unless one has a good reason, IS a grave sin. If you refuse to go to Sunday Mass in rebellion against the Church then you risk your soul. But there is no need for this. Go to Mass not out of fear, but out of love of God. You ought to want to worship our Lord and that is what Mass is -- it is worship.

You will not go to hell for coming to Mass because you fear hell. If you need to go to Mass for the time being out of fear of hell, then so be it. This is similar to what is called imperfect contrition -- to be sorry for our sins because of fear of hell. Hopefully we can mature into being sorry for sins for love of God -- this is called perfect contrition. If fear of hell is what brings you to Mass, then fine, but hopefully you will mature and want to come to Mass for love of God, and not fear.

The only way you will go to hell is if you die with mortal sin on your soul. If you die with mortal sin on your soul it will be your own stupid fault for God gives you MANY ways to remain in a state of grace.

Do what God asks us to do -- be a good Catholic, attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation, receive the Eucharist frequently (when you are in a state of grace), go to Confess to get yourself into a state of grace, belief what is required to believe for a Catholic, and practice good works and devotions.

It is that simple and that easy. There is no excuse for anyone to end up in hell except by their own stubborn pride.

As for where does it say that salvation is in the Catholic Church alone. That is a dogma of the faith that has been taught since AD 33.

Catechism 846 explains:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."

Alex, be not afraid. God loves you and when you confess your sins in the Sacrament of Confession your sins are removed, God remembers them no more, and you are restored to a State of Grace which means you are heaven-bound.

Live the good Catholic life. There is nothing to fear.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary