We were thrilled to read Mark Vernon’s article (“When Freud met God”, 1 November) and to hear that there had been a conference on Purgatory and contemporary psychotherapy. We belong to an international congregation of sisters called The Helpers of the Holy Souls, a fundamental aspect of whose charism is to accompany those in any kind of purgatorial experience in their lives – Purgatory is allowing “negative” feelings and experiences to be explored and worked through. It is a call to bear our own pain and to enter into the pain of others with a deep sense of hope that this pain will not lead to death, but to life.In some countries, the title of The Helpers of the Holy Souls is translated as “Bearers of Hope”. We really hope that inter­dis