Mass for persons who died estranged from the faith

[lauermar]

I have some family members who were once Catholic but left the faith. I know of some former friends who weren't raised in the faith and died in mortal sin: transgendered, suicide, practicing gay lifestyle, alcoholism or addiction. I sometimes see mass intentions in the local parish bulletin for some of these folks. I'm not sure if such masses can do these souls any good. Is it worth scheduling anything for them?

[Michael Wilson]

We don't know if these people are certainly damned, because we don't know what went on in their souls before they died. The story of the Cure of Ars telling the woman who's husband had committed suicide, that he  saw that he repented between the bridge and the water; and the one from St. Alphonsus that a woman was so wicked that she was driven out of her village and forced to live by herself outside of it, and who died alone and without the sacraments, yet that a saintly hermit was given the vision of the woman being saved, because she turned to our Blessed Mother in the final moments of her life, are just two instances that God has chosen to reveal to us the fate of people that otherwise would have been damned.
If the above souls that you mention were indeed saved, then the Masses will do them some good; if they were damned, then the Masses will do some other souls that God applies the fruit of those Masses to.
Finally, one can have Masses said for anyone, even say Joseph Stalin, but what is not allowed is to have these intentions posted publicly, because of the scandal that it would cause (at leas that is the way it used to be).

[lauermar]

Good information to have. I'm worried that my Protestant friend who is terminally ill wouldn't think of BVM. She admits she's had interior locutions about stains of her past sins not adequately repented of but ignores the warning. I'm also worried about another friend who was gravely ill and committed suicide 2 years ago. He had been pursuing an interest in preternatural spirits and necromancy for most of his adult life and right up to his death. He may have been raised Catholic but became agnostic.

[Michael Wilson]

On your Protestant friend; tell her to frequently say the little aspiration: "My Jesus Mercy"; according to St. Alphonsus, it is both an act of love and of contrition. The Holy names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are extremely powerful and efficacious in the driving away of the devil and obtaining grace for souls. You could also say that and other aspirations for her intention.

[Greg]

I wouldn't waste my time or money. Why not have mass said for people who died in the faith but were ugly, forgotten, old, lonely, childless or insignificant or saw generations after them lapse and therefore not pray for them?

Find their stories and pray for them.  They are far more likely in Purgatory and not Hell.

People seem to delight in low hope and no hope cases which defy what we know about salvation.  Middle of the bell curve Catholics are forgotten.

[KreKre]

I wouldn't waste my time or money.

No mass is ever a waste. It's the most holy of sacrifices offered to God! How could that possibly be a waste? Never!

Like Michael said above, the merit that comes from a mass offered for a soul who happens to be damned will surely not go to waste, it will be applied to the poor souls in Purgatory instead.

So you should offer masses for your deceased family members and pray for them, even if you don't think the chances of that particular person being saved are good. You don't know God's will and what is in anyone's heart. Judgement of who is damned is only for God to make, and you can be calm in knowing that it is the most just and fair of all possible judgements. Even if someone was a practicing sodomite or transgender or committed suicide, it does not necessarily mean he is in Hell. His chances are not good, true, but there is always hope that he might have repented in his last breath, or that his sins were not mortal, because of perhaps a mental illness. For a sin to be mortal it is not enough to be a grave matter, it has to be done with full consent and knowledge, and only God and the sinner know whether that is the case. So, it's not up to us to judge and to declare a person damned, even if that seems likely. It's up to us to pray and offer masses. In the best case, you will help this soul with the pains of Purgatory, and in the worst case, he is indeed damned and in Hell and all the prayers of this world won't be able to do him any good, but you will help someone else instead who is in Purgatory, perhaps a soul who might be forgotten and for whom nobody is praying. In any case, it's not a waste.

[Michael Wilson]

In addition to what Kre stated, in every Mass offered there are fruits that go to the priest that offers the Mass, to altar servers and other people present, and to the members of the Mystical Body, including the Poor Souls; as one can verify by reading the prayers of the offertory, the Canon, and the "Memento for the departed" after the consecration.

[drummerboy]

I wouldn't waste my time or money. Why not have mass said for people who died in the faith but were ugly, forgotten, old, lonely, childless or insignificant or saw generations after them lapse and therefore not pray for them?

Find their stories and pray for them.  They are far more likely in Purgatory and not Hell.

People seem to delight in low hope and no hope cases which defy what we know about salvation.  Middle of the bell curve Catholics are forgotten.

Very true, however, she is speaking of family, so there is the additional factor that she is bound in justice to pray for their repose

[Bonaventure]

I wouldn't waste my time or money.

No mass is ever a waste. It's the most holy of sacrifices offered to God! How could that possibly be a waste? Never!

Looking at things from God's terms, yes. No Mass, no petition, is a waste.

Greg said he didn't want to waste his time and his money, and from a human perspective, I understand.

It would be akin to having a Mass said for Luther or Julian the Apostate.

[KreKre]

It would be akin to having a Mass said for Luther or Julian the Apostate.

I get it. It's not very likely that such a Mass would help either of them. But I think of it this way: if (by some miracle) they did repent in their last breath, and God had mercy on them, then they would really, really need those Masses.

Now, I don't care about Luther or Julian the Apostate that much, and I'd rather offer a Mass for someone else, but if they were my father and my brother, I would offer Masses for them (even for them) in the off chance it would be beneficial to them, knowing that if not, it will regardless be an act of charity and help some other poor soul, so it wouldn't be wasted.