Catholics/Free Will

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Expert: - 4/18/2011


Question
Another catholic told me that free will ends with death.  After death does one retain free will or is it no longer there.  They also quoted the Catechism (CCC 1021) but all it spoke of was divine grace.

Answer
First of all, that "catechism" that you are quoting is for the New Order, not the traditional Roman Catechism based on dogmata of the Council of Trent.  Nevertheless, it is true that at death free will ends.  Whatever one has done or not done is, to use the term of St. John's Apocolypse, written in the Book of Life.  The pen is drained.  This we have from many other traditional sources:  the Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.

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Fr. Michael

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A traditional Catholic priest, who provides forthright answers to questions FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TRADITIONAL CATHOLICISM (not the New Order) on topics pertaining to TRADITIONAL Roman Catholicism, including theology, the Bible, Church history, the Latin language, liturgy (especially the Traditional Latin Mass), and music (especially Gregorian chant), and current events in the Catholic Church.

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