Catholics and the Afterlife

 I received a question:

Sorry if this sounds silly. But what are the Catholics belief in heaven/hell?I have not had a minute to ask the priest or deacon this, and usually I keep forgetting to ask.

So growing up in a different denomination I was taught we go straight to heaven or hell. Wasn’t taught about hell much just that it’s fire 24/7 and everyone is going there unless you accepted Jesus as savior.

But in heaven first you watch your life from start to finish, and explain all the bad things you did.

I was taught that you don’t know anyone when you get there. You might know somebody was related to you in some way. But most likely you won’t know them at all, everyone is a stranger. And what you do in heaven is sing 24/7, there is nothing else we do but sing (which I’ll be honest sounds terrible to me only because i personally am not good at singing and I don’t like to sing)

I don’t mean this in a crude way but from the various descriptions I’ve heard, I thought heaven didn’t sound all that great. Like I rather worship God in otherwise that are not singing.

My response: 

That's actually a very good question. Much ink has been spilled over that very topic because what the Church teaches on the afterlife is a lot more nuanced than a simple "hellfire for sinner, heaven for believers" kind of dichotomy. There are a couple of levels to this that we need to examine. 

First off, is what is called the Particular Judgment and the Final Judgment. The particular judgment is when at the point of death, Catechism 1022 states, 

"Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately—or immediate and everlasting damnation." 

Basically, that means each individual stands before God and is judged and learns where they are going in the afterlife: heaven, hell, or purgatory. (I'll come back to purgatory...)

Now, there is also the Final Judgment at the end of the world when Jesus returns. This is different in nature and scale than anyone's particular judgment.  

CCC 1038 declares:

"The resurrection of all the dead, “of both the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15), will precede the Last Judgment. This will be “the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).

"Then Christ will come “in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:31, 32, 46)."

The Final Judgment is the final judgment of the whole world publicly. This is where God's justice and mercy is portrayed for all creation to see. We as the human race will see how God was at work in all things from the beginning in all facets of life, weaving together the creation back to the state of Eden, and making right what all once went wrong in the Fall of Adam. The Final Judgment is the final proclamation of everything pertaining to God's justice and mercy. How and what that looks like is open to interpretation, but the Church teaches that it will happen in whatever form God renders it. 

Now, jumping back to the particular judgment, the Church teaches people enter either into heaven, purgatory, or hell, which is eternal separation from God. Now, is this hell literal fire and brimstone for all eternity? Maybe. That can be in somewhat different ways, but eternal separation from God is painful, regardless of whatever means it happens. Suffice is to say its a place we pray no one we know enters. 

Now, if God finds you in a state of grace when you are particularly judged, you enter either purgatory or heaven directly. Purgatory is *not* hell 2.0. Purgatory is a place where, if we have venial sin and worldly residue on our souls when we die but we are still in a state of grace, we get spiritually cleaned up. Maybe it's unhealthy attachments to things like football games or sins we have not quite conquered, purgatory is the place we get cleansed and cleaned up and ready to meet Jesus face to face in heaven. We are assured when we make it to purgatory, we will eventually get to heaven, it just may take us some time. Now, again, exactly what purgatory is and how long it lasts is up for theological discussion. We just know purgatory is the place where we work out all the final baggage we need to clean up before we go to the holy of holies where God exists in divine perfection. 

Now, you do not necessarily have to go to purgatory. Some Christians may well be in a perfect state of grace when they die, and if so, they may go straight to heaven. Regardless of whether you have to go to purgatory for a while or straight to heaven, heaven is defined as the ultimate state of happiness and union with God. Heaven is the place where the souls of the faithful enjoy the beatific vision and eternal life. Heaven is not merely a physical place but a state of existence characterized by perfect communion with the Holy Trinity and all the blessed. That's the goal of every Christian in their journey in this world.