ANSWER by Staff on September 6, 2003

Dear Don: What happens to Catholics when they die is the same thing that happens to ALL persons when they die. Those who are in the saving grace of God die in that saving grace through faith, are separated from their bodies (the soul separated from the body), then they are judged not according to whether they are saved, because they are saved, but according to how well they lived out that grace given to them by God (1 Cor 3:15) and then enter heaven awaiting the final resurrection and final judgment. Those who die outside of the saving grace of God die are also separated from their bodies and their souls are separated from God in what we commonly call hell awaiting the Final Resurrection and Judgment. Then at the end of the world, at the Second Coming, all people, the saved and the condemned will have their bodies resurrected and their souls reunited with their bodies. The saved will have their bodies glorified and then spend eternity with God. The condemned will have their bodies and souls judged unto condemnation and lowered into the hell which is eternal separation from God. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Marya