Roman Catholic Perspective of Dying
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This paper will be concerned with the Roman Catholic perspective on religious issues for the dying. In recent years, a great deal of scientific research has been done in an effort to understand the phenomenon of death. Researchers such as Raymond Moody and Elisabeth Kubler Ross have determined that an entity (known as the "spirit" or "soul") survives after the human body has died. Because their studies are limited to "near death" experiences in which the subjects return to life, Moody and the other researchers have not yet determined what happens to the soul after the first few minutes of the experience. Nevertheless, enough is known about "near death" experiences to show that there are numerous parallels between those experiences and the beliefs that Catholics have long held on the subject. In particular, the Catholic viewpoint agrees that the soul continues to survive beyond death. According to Roman Catholic theology, a person's soul "survives the body and lives eternally" (Benton, 1978, p. 65). After death, the soul goes either to Heaven or Hell, depending upon the quality of life that the person lived while on earth. In some cases, the soul goes to "purgatory," where temporary punishment is experienced and the soul is thus purged of its previous sins (Ryan, 1990, p. 110). Belief in the soul continues to be an important part of modern Catholic faith. Thus, the 1979 Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirmed "that a spiritual element endowed with
. . .
g of Light" is filled with love and compassion and that it merely guides the dying person in self judgment rather than passing judgment.
The idea of self judgment in death is contained in the Catholic teaching that death is a time during which the person must undergo one final struggle with the forces of good and evil. According to Hayes (1988), this struggle at death represents "the decisive act of human freedom in which the person can either accept or reject the mystery of God and thereby put the final seal on his or her personal history and destiny" (p. 273). The sickness which usually precedes death is seen as "evidence of Satan's dominion over mankind as a result of the Fall" (Wright, 1967, p. 691). In order to help people deal with this final struggle, the Catholic Church provides various sacraments. These sacraments, such as baptism, eucharist and penance, are all designed to help the person become more aligned with God and Christ. In this way, they help the person to ward off the temptations of Satan. Benton (1978) points out that these sacraments are especially important at a person's time of death (p. 341). One of the most important sacraments at that time is the one known as "Anointing the Sick." In this sacr
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Catholic Church, Tollitur Life, Anointing Sick, Raymond Moody, Elisabeth Kubler Ross, Requiem Mass, According Hayes, According Catholic, Roman Catholic, Heaven Hell, dying person, catholic church, hayes 1988, hayes 1988 272, foos graber 1984, 1988 272, plays role, soul survives, scientific research, death catholic, own death, wright 1967 691, catholic church teaches, people accept death, church teaches death,
Approximate Word count = 2317
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Roman Catholic Perspective of Dying
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
