“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings another soul from purgatory springs”, so Johann Tetzel is believed to have said in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He was selling what are called Indulgences. His was a blatant money making device which was just one of the things that spurred Martin Luther to kick start the Reformation of the Church.

The whole thing concerns Purgatory. In Roman Catholic terms purgatory is a place of "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030).

It is possible that at death whilst a person has faith in Jesus Christ bringing salvation that he may have sinned in a number of ways which need sorting out and resolving. None of us are perfect and so we need to cleanse ourselves of those

impurities before we can get into Heaven itself.

As a Christian the belief that at death we all go to paradise is false. The promise of some that we shall see again all our loved ones when we die is a false assumption. In God’s order of things only those who have faith in Jesus Christ are assured of salvation.

Hell is real and is portrayed as a place of torment and punishment for having failed to grasp the fundamentals of what Christianity is all about and have lived lives disregarding God. The Church’s teaching on Purgatory does say about it that "this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031).

But is Purgatory real? My own Christian journey as a Protestant means that I have been taught that Purgatory is a false Romish teaching. But as an ex Spiritualist I have always felt that it had some weight. Upon death it is not always a straight journey through to the other side. Some souls take the odd detour and sometimes get bogged down in some nook or cranny of this world! Why else would people need us priests to go and sort out the odd haunting?

The teaching also denied that there was any point in praying for a person who had died as their fate was completely settled at death and so no prayers could affect them. Again as an ex Spiritualist I am inclined to believe our thoughts, feelings and prayers do affect those on the other side.

There is also the further evidence from the stories like you can read here on my website. The account of Ian McCormack, the “Jellyfish Man” who died an atheist, met Jesus and accepted his salvation and has returned to tell the tale is evidence that a person’s fate is not settled at death.

So I have become increasingly more comfortable with praying for the souls of those who have died and I can see the logic that follows on that there is a state in which some people have to work through some issues on the other side before they get into Heaven.

CS Lewis’ ‘The Great Divorce’ is also about a most unusual bus trip from one state of Heaven to another and how the process is not always an easy one and that souls have lessons to learn in order to progress. He puts it down to merely a dream, but one cannot help but wonder with so much of CS Lewis’ work how there is somewhere a grain of truth.

Is there some form of Purgatory on the other side? All I can say with any certainty is that there might be, but we should do all we can this side of the grave to ensure that our ultimate place in Heaven is assured!