Eternal Hope For Those Who Die By Suicide

Do you believe that a person will go straight to hell if they die by suicide? According to the Roman Catholic Church, that is not necessarily so. To better understand this mismatch, it helps to look at some of the theology behind sins.

There are venial sins and mortal sins. Venial sins diminish and wound the divine life in our souls while mortal sins destroy it, thereby separating oneself completely from God. To be a mortal sin, three conditions must be met: 1) The matter of the sin must be grave. Killing is grave. Suicide is killing, but the priest must check the other two conditions before concluding it is mortal. 2) The sinner must have full knowledge of the evil involved. People do not like hearing the word evil when it comes to suicide, but killing in itself originates from evil in the world. 3) Just like in marriage, the person must use the full consent of their will to carry out the action. If the person's mind is compromised in some way, the person did not use their will with full consent and the sin would not be mortal. [1]

Since the one doing the killing is dead, it is impossible to check in on the last two conditions. Therefore, we cannot say for sure that their action was a mortal sin. We do not know for sure if they completely separated themselves from God and put themselves in a state of Hell. We can then hope and pray for the person's eternal salvation of soul. If the person did separate themselves completely from God of their own free will, then the prayers will be used by God in some other beneficient situation.

Using my father as an example, he was an active alcoholic of at least 25 years and most likely depressed at the time of his suicide. One might say "he was not in his right mind" but no one knows for sure. Only God knows. So I pray that Jesus may have forgiven him for his action, and I hope at the least, he may be in Purgatory being healed of remaining sins and the effects of them in preparation for Heaven. That is, I continue to pray for him and the salvation of his soul, that he will be forever united with Jesus Christ. I choose to live in Hope.

Lastly, there is salutary repentance, mentioned below, which is forgiveness in ways only known to God. This is another reason to choose Hope and pray for the one who died by suicide.

~ ~ ~

A good reference for this is The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition. Here are some useful excerpts.

"1037 God predestines no one to go to hell." [2] 

To "go to hell," a person must willingly turn away from God in a grave manner, and persist in doing so. That is, they must of their own volition commit a mortal sin. Second, people do not actually go to hell. Hell is actually a state of the soul. It is "The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives. [3]" 

On the other hand, heaven is "the state of supreme and definitive happiness. [4]" It is "Eternal life with God; communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the blessed. [5]"

2280  Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.

2281  Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to the love of the living God.

 2282  If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law. 

Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility [i.e., culpability] of the one committing suicide [and thereby provide hope for the survivors of the one who took his/her life].

2283  We should not despair of the eternal salvation [i.e., getting to Heaven] of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to Him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives." [6]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1997, available online

 

pdf version - Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va) [Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 5]

New & Used - Amazon.com: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 9781601376497: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, USCCB: Books 

Used - Catechism of the Catholic Church book by Libreria Editrice Vaticana (thriftbooks.com)

Abbreviated footnotes:

1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1997, p. 889.

2. Ibid, p. 270.

3. Ibid, p. 881.

4. Ibid, p. 881.

5. Ibid, p. 881.

6. Ibid, p. 550.

image - https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781574551105_p0_v4_s550x406.jpg

The Reality of Being Suicidal

**Contains Triggers**  Please check-in with yourself as you read, and stop if necessary.*

Suicidal? What does that mean? For people who have never experienced it, it can be quite graphic, so please, TAKE NOTE: You may not have the stomach to read or view this. Please check-in with yourself as you read and stop, if necessary.

At times, suicidal has basically meant having no desire to live, or wishing I was dead, but plugging forward. At other times, suicidal has meant planning a drive to the George Washington Bridge in New York City, or a flight to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, so when I really want to end my life, I would know just how to do it.

I am a woman devoted to the Catholic Faith, which considers suicide to be a mortal sin. Many people say, but that's your religion; it is out of touch with reality. No. At its core, without watering it down with mitigating circumstances, I consider suicide to be a mortal sin. It is an outright rejection of God and the life He gave me, the life I fight for for the unborn.

The pain and wearing down by my circumstances have resulted in my blowing off and outright rejecting Jesus and His Teachings, to entertain my "fantasies" and "plans." Suicidal tendencies are not rational. I have been a suicide prevention advocate for several years now, but in an actively suicidal state, I do not care. I throw all of  my own advice out the window. I can convince myself that God will understand how sick these people are, and as a result, how sick they made me. I can convince myself that I do not have to do the upright thing because God will have mercy on me.

And then, that's it. I am going to to the bridge, or I am going to take another overdose, etc. In my mind - and in my pain - it does not matter that my sons, and friends, and siblings, and now grandson, will miss me and be in an incredible amount of pain. I can convince myself that they have resources for healing that I never has when my Dad took his life on my birthday.

In my mind - and in my pain - it does not matter that I have been dedicated to stopping the killing of human beings in the womb. The screen goes blank....until something in my being eventually kicks in. That something is the Grace of God.

One time I felt incredible and what seemed to be uncontrollable pain, so I forced myself to reach out and I called around to psychiatric hospitals about their admission criteria. I did that because awhile ago, when I was in Canada and in distress, the hospital would not admit me because I was not actively doing something like slicing my wrists, or planning to go home and shoot myself. Suicidal consideration and the inability to cope were not enough. They made me leave.

So this time in the United States, I called to see if the mental health decline had reached our locale - and it had. Four hospitals told me I would not get admitted because I was not far enough along in my suicidal state. I gritted my way through it, but I easily have rapidly progressed in my suicidal state and  not have been able to do that gritting - and have taken my life. I would not have been around for my grandson's birth, or my other son's new steady girlfriend, or the anniversary of my mother's death when I go to her grave site and pray the Rosary for her, and my other relatives there.

I came to conclude that all the hospitals who claim to have Psychiatric Care in their list of treatment programs were misrepresenting themselves. One hospital listed Suicide Prevention, as an alternative, but when I called them, that was a misnomer too. It was only Imminent Suicide Prevention, i.e., one had to be slicing their wrists or going home to shoot themselves. If one was not far enough along in their suicidal state, oh well!

Our mental health system needs help. Even more so, our world needs Jesus in our hearts, our minds, and our souls. +

NOT SUICIDAL "ENOUGH" FOR HOSPITAL CARE

SUICIDAL "ENOUGH" FOR HOSPITAL CARE

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OUR WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS JESUS

*Updated 01/12/2024

images - https://media.sciencephoto.com/image/c0087590/800wm/C0087590-Suicidal_man.jpg

- https://il3.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/6633992/thumb/1.jpg

- https://article1000.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Management-of-suicidal-behavior.jpg

- https://ldsmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/MaryandJoseph.jpg

ProChoice & ProAbortion Efforts Thwart Suicide Prevention

Suicide prevention advocates fight really hard to save human beings in daily life. Reason follows that they would fight just as hard to save human beings in the womb, yet they do not always do that.

Some are ProLife for suicide, but ProChoice or ProAbortion for crisis pregnancy. They forbid killing human beings in one instance, and allow – even encourage – killing them in the other. With this dichotomy, a suicidal person should push back on a prevention advocate with, “Why are you telling me not to kill myself? Life can’t be precious if mothers are legally killing their babies in the womb every day.”

Truth becomes precarious, which is a lie. The lie fractures the integrity of suicide prevention efforts. Trust between the suicidal and the prevention advocates then erodes. See Figure 1.

Both situations call us to raise up the dignity of human life, and we can only do that with congruent messages to those in crisis. Truth will then remain intact. Accord will be struck and it will strengthen the integrity of suicide prevention efforts. Trust between the suicidal persons and the prevention advocates will also flourish. See Figure 2.

* Those left behind after someone’s abortion: Mother, father, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.,

                      can experience grief, directly or indirectly. See Mourning My Loved Ones Lost to Abortion

 

Admittedly, we must overcome many socioeconomic and political challenges to keep human beings alive in both scenarios. However, we are fabulously capable of shifting minds and monies to conquer them. So let’s commit to activity that eliminates the scarcity mindset of abortion, and replaces it with the abundant hopefulness of ProLife, i.e., All Lives Matter.

RELATED LINKS

1) My Book, Unraveling My Father's Suicide 

2) My Facebook Page, Unraveling My Father's Suicide 

3) My Facebook Page, Let There Be Life. 

My email:  klaplante2@yahoo.com

Coming soon in a local newspaper near me. The Valley Patriot.

Do Your Part for September Suicide Prevention Week & Month

Do Your Part for 

Suicide Prevention Week & Month

This is one thing I am doing. 

See A New Sun Foundation Suicide Prevention Walk 2019  

It will be my 5th year.

This Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:30am! 

Fay Park, Foster Street, Littleton, MA

If you want to join some of us who are walking in support of all those impacted by suicide, DM me. Minimum donation is your $20 registration fee.

Unfortunately, I have had suicides of family members, friends, and acquaintances.

My Dad, cousin1, cousin2, 2nd-cousin, friend's father, different friend's son. I write about them in my self-published book, "Unraveling My Father's Suicide"

Kathleen's Book Interview (Unraveling My Father's Suicide) on Beneath the Surface Radio Show with Paul Murano

Radio Waves

>> National Suicide Prevention Hotline <<

1-800-273-8255 (TALK)

Text 741 741

RADIO INTERVIEW on Beneath the Surface with Paul Murano

"Unraveling My Father's Suicide" by Kathleen Laplante

Podcast - https://archive.org/details/BTS249_201905

May 20, 2019


"We go beneath the surface with author Kathleen Laplante on her book and how she survived her father's suicide. From confusion, to anger, to despair [incl. her own suicide attempt], to hope in Christ." 

Unraveling My Father's Suicide (Book)

Family Suicides - Father, two cousins, a third cousin after publication
Attempted Suicide - Me
Those Left Behind, i.e., Survivors of Suicide - Me, my siblings, my mother, his girlfriend, his siblings and their families, his roommates, his friends, his work peers and more... Suicide leaves its mark on very many people.
Suicidal Ideation - Me, siblings, cousin

Book Sales - https://www.amazon.com/Unraveling-Fathers-Suicide-Kathleen-Laplante/dp/0692409882

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/unravelingmyfatherssuicide/


A future post will talk in more depth about suicide prevention.

Comments can be provided below or you may send email to klaplante2@yahoo.com  
God bless you. +

Screening of a New Documentary is Saving Lives "Suicide: The Ripple Effect"

"Suicide: The Ripple Effect"  Coming to Marlborough, MA!   .

May 31, 2018 @ 7:30pm Solomon Pond Mall  Regal Cinemas Stadium 15 Please join us for a special screening of this important film followed by an engaging discussion on the topic with an expert panel. Get Tickets Suicide: The Ripple Effect takes you on a journey with Kevin Hines [a Catholic] who survived jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to take his life. Since then Kevin has been on a mission to use his story to help others find hope and stay alive. A film by Kevin Hines and Greg Dicharry

Watch this Official Trailer! This film is part of a global mission to help reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts around the world. Through sharing stories of survival and recovery we are creating significant awareness of this health crisis, while helping people find the support they need to stay alive, heal and #BeHereTomorrow!

Baton Rouge World Premier Hear what the audience had to say about the film and get a recap of the event on 2-23-18.

Get Tickets

The film was released worldwide on March 13th Theatrical on Demand and features some of the world’s leading suicide prevention experts, while shining light on people who are using personal experiences with suicide to help others find the hope they need to stay alive.

For more info contact: Kathleen Laplante  at klaplante2@yahoo.com

www.SuicideTheRippleEffect.com

Note: This post is a modified version of an announcement compiled by Stephanie Sikes at suicidetherippleeffect.com  Thank you Stephanie.

"Suicide: The Ripple Effect" Documentary Screening, May 31, 2018, 7:30p, Marlborough, MA

I continue to take on projects to help raise awareness of the insidious nature of suicide, 

and to help develop life affirming options for people to deal with such unbearable pain. 

A new documentary film, "Suicide: The Ripple Effect," contributes to this.

I am hosting a screening for the film on Thursday, May 31, 2018, 7:30pm at the 

Solomon Pond Mall Regal Cinemas in Marlborough, MA. I hope you can make it! 

50 tickets need to be reserved by 2pm, Monday, May 21, 2018, for the event to take 
place.

Please go to https://gathr.us/s/23304 to reserve your ticket(s).

If you have questions, contact me, and feel free to forward this to others.

Kathleen Laplante

klaplante2@yahoo.com 

Help bring "Suicide: The Ripple Effect" to Marlborough, MA on Thursday, May 31!  Reserve your tickets today.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, I finished writing and publishing a book about my father's suicide and the resulting clustering in my family tree. The title is "Unraveling My Father's Suicide" (FB Page  and  website).