Do you feel reincarnation can be believed within Catholicism

[mrgorth]

Since getting into some more new agey and Buddhist stuff I have started believing more in reincarnation. I look at Heaven, hell and to a lesser extent Purgatory as a metaphor for reincarnation. I once talked to a deacon who told me that he had a young priest for deacon classes who told him that reincarnation was the real deal and Church leadership knew it but that they couldn't go back on 2000 years of Heaven and hell at this point. What are your thoughts?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. reincarnation is not compatable with the Catholic teaching

[Stunster]

2. Yes, but mainly no

In a sense, Catholics do believe in re-incarnation.

We are re-fleshed.

We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

However, the big differences are:

1) We are not resurrected back into this world.

2) We are not resurrected into a different person, or a different kind of creature.

3) We are only resurrected once.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. ressurection is the key word - its not reincarnation

[jmm]

4. When I was studying for my Confirmation

I tried to argue to my CCD teacher that Purgatory was reincarnation. My reason being that what better way is there to atone for earthly sins than to keep on being sent back until we get it right? She just said I was wrong and didn't give a counter arguement but most of the class agreed with me.

[mrgorth]

6. Cool. That's about where I'm at

Heaven = Nirvana...complete oneness with God.
Purgatory = Reincarnation, the struggle to attain oneness.
Hell = Complete seperation from God.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Lots of things are believed by individual Catholics that

are not within the official teachings of the Church, and reincarnation is one. As far as I know, there is no Christian church that includes reincarnation in its beliefs and teachings. I tend to doubt the young priest who claimed that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church "knows reincarnation was the real deal." I don't doubt he thought that, I doubt that it's true of many within the Church leadership.

My view is that reincarnation is not necessarily untrue because the Church doesn't recognize it. It's always within the realm of possibility that some teachings of Jesus have been misunderstood for centuries. St. Paul talked about seeing through a glass but darkly.

[Matilda]

7. I don't have any trouble accepting it.

I find the concept of many lifetimes of learning and absorbing the
truth in order for one's soul to grow makes a great deal of sense.

And when I think of a child born into a life of dire poverty,
malnutrition and disease in Africa, or Palestine, or Iraq and wonder
why it should be, it is easier to understand in terms of karma and
reincarnation than to accept it as a whim of fate, or God.