Limbo was harmful solution to a theological problem, says priest

The teaching of Limbo was a well-meaning attempt to solve a theological problem but caused many mothers to suffer, a leading theologian has said.

Prof. Eamonn Conway, a lecturer at Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College, said the theological concept “caused a lot of harm”, and that it was an attempted solution to protect the idea that faith was a free act, and that God wouldn’t impose salvation upon us.

“I do understand why many people of a particular generation found this cruel and damaging. It wasn’t intended to be so, it was intended to protect the freedom of faith,” Fr Conway said, noting that it’s not an idea Catholics are required to believe.

His comments come in the wake of a study from Queen’s University Belfast in conjunction with the Irish Countrywomen’s Association which explores the declining belief of Limbo and how it emotionally affected Irish women.

Testimonies

The study concludes that it is impossible to read through the body of testimonies as a whole without forming the impression that many Irish mothers suffered silently the intense pain of miscarriage, of stillbirth, or of infant deaths.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, author of the study and Professor Emeritus in Economic History Liam Kennedy said that many women had “a guilt feeling about their infant not being able to go to Heaven” and that Limbo was imagined as a “dark place” or “void”.

He speculated that Catholics themselves decided that it was an “unacceptable belief” as it was “regarded as a rather cruel doctrine, and not consistent with the idea of a loving God”.

Sentiments

Echoing these sentiments, Prof. Conway said that he understands why people found the idea cruel, and that its true intent and meaning got lost.

“I think that’s absolutely true. I think in its essence, it had a good, in that it was trying to protect the freedom of faith – that eternal life with God was not an imposition – but that got completely lost,” he said.

The International Theological Commission states that there are strong theological and liturgical grounds for hope that God will save infants who have not been baptised.