Afterlife Interrupted – Helping Stuck Souls Cross Over

This is an extraordinary text from the witness of a Catholic priest who has helped over 250 'stuck souls' who died suddenly and traumatically adjust to the conditions of the afterlife. They come to him in dreams, following which he is able to make contact through the intermediary of a prayer partner and open up the possibility of moving on beyond the traumatic death, which sometimes occurred decades ago. Swedenborg already noted in the 18th century that some people did not realise they had died and remained in limbo state; then there are many accounts of First World War soldiers passing over unexpectedly – my late friend Nick Nicholls did similar work. Father Nathan carries out this mission as a sacred calling from the Holy Spirit in the name of love and truth; he writes that we all live inside God. There are 15 chapters, telling very different stories – he does not claim to know how this all works, but the book relates this in simple terms, including his own background.

Father Nathan summarises the overall lessons on p. 24. We all survive our deaths, no one dies alone, our freedom is respected, we leave behind physical pain, there are infinite opportunities to learn in the next life. When he was seven, JFK was assassinated, and he could see him alone in a grey place, and the impression he got was that the President was very sad about disappointing people. One striking case involves a 12-year-old disobeying her parents and going down to the beach just at the moment when the 2004 tsunami crashed in, and she naturally experiences agonising guilt, though she now writes from a mature perspective. There are other accounts of plane and car crashes, and death by fire. Father Nathan stresses that most people who died traumatically quickly complete their transition into the afterlife, probably with the help of their guardian. For him, the experience of life is fundamentally about loving and being loved, and his main concern here is to open up the conversation, which his book certainly does – a very significant contribution to the field.