Thea Gallas Always Gets Her Man by Kristen Panzer

Author:Kristen Panzer [Panzer, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780988566309
Publisher: Panzer Press
Published: 2012-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

What if the thing that was most precious to you was just discarded, thrown away like so much trash, Carla had asked over lemonade on the patio, suggesting that the callous dispatching of the twins was the singular event that had created a hoarder out of Dolores. If that were true about the prior miscarriage, it would seem Carla’s timeline was wrong. Dolores’s penchant for keeping things might have already been ignited prior to the birth and death of the twins.

“The real tragedy of course is that they all died unbaptized.”

I shrugged. That was the real tragedy? How much worse can it get than losing an infant child?

“You understand,” Father insisted.

“No. Can’t say as I do.”

“Well, baptism, the cleansing of Original Sin, is a requirement for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s not optional,” Father began, warming up to his subject. I think he liked the sound of his voice pontificating. I didn’t care for it much. I leaned back and regarded him, his watery blue eyes, his demonically hairy eyebrows and nostrils.

He went on. “It was always understood that unbaptized babies can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They spend eternity in Limbo. That’s why abortion is so devastating.” He wagged a finger at me. “The innocent lose their lives in this world and in the Hereafter, you see.”

I gritted my teeth. “Dolores didn’t have an abortion. She had a miscarriage.” I tried not to let my voice sound angry.

“Sadly, the babies were unbaptized all the same.”

“I see,” I said, disgusted. Sometimes I can’t believe I am a part of this organization. “Did you explain all that to Dolores, how she and her baby wouldn’t be reunited in the afterlife because her baby couldn’t go to Heaven?”

Father looked around, his shoulders shifting back defensively as my voice rose a notch or two.

“She was very confused about Catholic teaching on stillbirth and the unbaptized. I tried to give her some clarity. I can see you’re getting upset. Does what I’m saying seem harsh?”

“Yes,” I said.

What he said next surprised me. “Then you’ll be happy to know the Church has relaxed her teaching on what happens to unbaptized babies. Some might say we don’t know for sure they go to Limbo. After all, ours is a merciful and loving God, is He not?”

I nodded in relief and was embarrassed to feel a tear sting my eye. Had Father Moriarty and I found some common ground at last? Sometimes I felt like I was hanging on by a thread, in terms of my participation in the Catholic Church. I ventured a small smile, offering it to Father like a little olive branch, you could say. Father smiled back, and then he hit me with the zinger: “But actually the Doctrine of Original Sin is very clear. The unbaptized cannot enter the gates of Heaven. It’s not always ours to understand.”

I leaned back and willed myself to swallow my anger. I hadn’t come to argue about Catholic doctrine. I was here to find out about Roy

“Poor Lo,” Father looked stricken as he remembered the details.

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