text: The Bible tells us "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Maccabees 12:46).
  
  Sr. Rose, thank you for this Bible quote.  In our largely secularized Protestant society, prayers for the dead are viewed as ineffectual at best and silly at worst.  As a cradle Catholic, I believe they are a beautiful and effective part of our tradition.    As an Irish Catholic, I believe this distance between the living and the dead is thinner than it appears.  Church militant, church suffering, and church triumphant are all still church.