Everbody Limbo?
Posted By Kathleen David on December 1, 2005
Peter took Caroline out to play giving me a chance to really go through the toy mess in the living room and get her toys back in order. Out of her magnetic letters we are missing Q but that may be under the couch. Out of her alphabet blocks we are missing C and Z but I found the missing D. Out of her alphabet block books she is missing R and P. I have less hope of finding those since they left the house at a couple of points. I found all her fisher price little people but one and matched them up to their toys. I also restored order to the kitchen so all in all not a bad day’s work.
Today is “finish up the living room” day so tomorrow can be “those other rooms that just need a little work” day. I might do one of those rooms at some point today just to feel better about the cleaning over all. I want to have this all done Friday night so I can decorate for the party Saturday without having to keep cleaning. There is some shopping that needs to be done in there somewhere too. I will be so glad to get to Monday with my sanity intact. Ariel and Peter have been great help with this project. I am hoping when it is done we might maintain it a little longer than we usually do. But I have a feeling the next costume or other project will just throw the room back in to Chaos.
According to a new paper coming out from the Vatican limbo doesn’t exist. It was a construct created in the Middle Ages to explain what happened to babies who did before they could be baptized. Considering the infant mortality rate that existed at the time, it doesn’t surprise me that this concept was created to make people feel better. Dante used it in his work to explain where all the virtuous heathen people who were alive before Jesus arrived went after they died. Now Limbo is not purgatory which does still exist according to the church. I don’t think that if the Catholic Church redrafts their version of architecture of the cosmos without Limbo that the word is going to go out of usage. We use it all the time to describe the condition of being disregarded or forgotten. I read it this morning in the paper about a bill that is stalled out in the state senate. Makes me wonder if Purgatory or the levels of Hëll are next to be removed from the catechism since they were also created about the same time. Or if this is going to be another St. Christopher thing where they say he didn’t exist and therefore is not a saint and then reverse themselves and say that St. Christopher does exist and he is still the patron saint of travelers.
I am grateful for the word Limbo.
I always thought that “Limbo” was the place that Catholics were sent to where they had to listen to Chubby Checker singing all the time…
(that, and everywhere they went, they had to pass under successively lower and lower bars…)
Howdy,
You don’t know me, but I read your blog (and your husband’s) occasionally. I saw this paragraph on Limbo, and wanted to clarify a little, since all the newspapers seem to be getting their facts wrong (often true when talking about the Church).
This isn’t a case of the Pope or some cardinals coming out and announcing that Limbo no longer exists or that they’re changing doctrine. In fact, Limbo never was doctrine, it was just a theological theory. The fact that it was a major theory in the middle ages is of no consequence. All that is happening right now is the International Theological Commission (not a part of the Church’s magisterium, more like an advisory board who helps the Holy See examine important theological points) has been discussing Limbo and what happens to children who die before they are baptized, and they plan to publish a paper on their discussions and findings for the Holy See and the Congragation for the Doctrine of the Faith. From there, they might recommend rejecting the theory, allowing people who still wish to believe in this speculation to do so, etc.
For more information, here’s a story from a reliable news source regarding Church and Vatican issues: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=81031
And here’s a much better explanation than mine, from a professional apologist: http://www.jimmyakin.org/2005/12/limbo_in_limbo.html
Sorry for the long post. Take care!
Timmay!