Sir, - By way of antidote to Patsy McGarry's very flippant contribution dealing with the very serious topic of Hell (The Irish Times, August 7th), may I suggest that Pope John Paul's recent discourse on the topic of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory does not represent any significant change in the teaching of the Catholic Church on these topics?.
Over 40 years ago Frank Sheed's Theology for Beginners was first published. In it he wrote as follows about the subject of Hell:
"Deprived of God a spirit knows torment, and cannot die. It is deprived of God by its own will to reject God, but that it will not change: its self-love is too monstrous. The lost will not have God, who alone can meet their needs, but who by the greatness of His glory shows their own self for the poor thing it is. Union with Him would be self-love's crucifixion, and self-love has become their all.
"There is more to be said of hell than that . . . but that is the essence of it. One single detail must be added. Hell is not simply a place of self-inflicted torment, it is a place of hate. Love, like all good things, has its source in God. Cut off from its source, it withers and dies. It is as though the moon, in love with its own light, rejected the sun. Hell is all hate: hate of God and hate of one another, hate of all the creatures of God, above all of those creatures who are made in the hated image." - Yours, etc., Rory O'Hanlon
Kilternan, Co Dublin.