Bishop John giving his address at the SPUC launch of Abortion and Women's Health. Lets keep the team in prayer as they work towards "Promoting the TRUE dignity of human LIFE"

All Souls Day is a holy day set aside for honoring the dead. The day is primarily celebrated in the Catholic Church, but it is also celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and a few other denominations of Christianity. The Anglican church is the largest protestant church to celebrate the holy day. Most protestant denominations do not recognize the holiday and disagree with the theology behind it. According to Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies can go to one of three places. The first is heaven, where a person who dies in a state of perfect grace and communion with God goes. The second is hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned by their choice. The intermediate option is purgatory, which is thought to be where most people, free of mortal sin, but still in a state of lesser (venial) sin, must go.

The good thief, as he is commonly referred, is an unnamed character who appears in all four Gospels—though it’s his interaction with our Lord in the Gospel of Luke that’s made him famous. Though he’s never been officially canonized by the Church, he is believed to be a saint by virtue of Christ’s words, ““Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” So I suppose you could say he was canonized preemptively by the Lord himself! He is traditionally referred to as St. Dismas and his feast day is March 25th.