Not long ago a quite pious member of my congregation asked, a bit breathlessly, whether her beloved pet would be in heaven with her. I’m sure this breathless woman’s pet was doggedly faithful to her, and she apparently felt that she didn’t want a heaven absent such a loyal friend.
What could I say? “Ma’am, I’m quite sure all dogs go to heaven.” But that would compromise my teaching mandate from the Roman Catholic Church. I came up with something like: “Ma’am, God will provide the best for your dog, and the best for you. When you get to Heaven (by God’s grace), you, and Fido, will be perfectly happy.” I didn’t mention that Fido will have ceased to exist by that time, presuming she didn’t precede her beloved pet in death. But how can a loving pastor speak those harsh words to such a delicate member of the congregation?
I grew up with dogs, and in fact, one of them died in my arms (after having been hit by a car). I heard her last wail of agony, and I felt her last breath. Misty’s death hit my parents like a freight train, and they never had another dog after her. Domesticated dogs (and even cats) are one of God’s greatest consolations to us, and I can understand how people want their pets to have immortal souls, so as to live forever with them in heaven.
But here’s the thing: we all have to die someday. And death means letting go, and letting God. To ask the question of “what will I have in heaven with me?” betrays a certain attitude of control that we must surrender before sister death comes for us, lest she have to forcibly wrest if from us. In the end, we must trust God, absolutely. We must learn to stop telling him what we will need in heaven, kind of like the pharaohs of old who piled up all the toys and food they needed for heaven in their burial chambers.
God will provide for us in heaven, and we will be supremely happy, with or without our dogs (and cats). If we fret about what heaven will have or not have, it means simply we are not ready for heaven. So try to stop fretting. Heaven will be …. hmmmm …. “what no eye has seen and no ear has heard.”
Full story at frilloblog.com.
He’s assuming all people go to heaven. Maybe the woman will be in hell and her dog will be in heaven. It’s not dumb; it’s possible. He should have told her that to see what her reaction would be.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/sorry-fido-pope-francis-did-not-say-our-pets-are-going-heaven
It is an immaturity to think that you need anything but God in Heaven. Even the desire to see family members and friends.
So much for the communion of saints, then. So much for the church as the body of Christ, then. So much for the covenant people of God, then. I guess those are all immature doctrines of the faith.
You are not understanding. My post was about worldly attachments.
I am thinking that you do not understand those doctrines well. They are not immature at all.
CCC 1023 Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ…
1024 This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity – this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed – is called “heaven.” Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.
Edited for length…there is more
When I was young and coming back to the Church, I would ask priests questions. I would not get an answer. They would give me the run-around. I interpreted that to mean that I was not good enough to talk to a priest. Then later “God does not want me talking to priests.” Then after many years, I decided they didn’t answer my questions, because they did not know the answers. (God always answered my question. A book or article or sermon or something would come that answered the question.)
After reading this priest say that he thought this parishioner was too “delicate” to be told the answer, now I think the priests did not tell me the truth because they were concerned that I could not handle the truth. I would not have been asking if I was not prepared to hear whatever answer was truth.
A fair response, IMO.
I know folks here like the Fr. But, in this case, he was mistaken.
As Fr Hardon was fond of saying, “Human respect is a Tyrant”.
A few years ago on Catholic radio, one of the priest hosts stated that all dogs go to heaven, except chihuahuas. His phone lines quickly lit up and some called this otherwise orthodox priest a heretic. He quickly publicly recanted and said he was joking. It’s apparent that dogs, especially chihuahuas, are not a joking matter. Of course, we all know that Saint Bernards are in heaven. German shepherds aren’t sure they want to go. They’re still having a synod to discuss it.
Animals are loving and innocent. God made them, and He truly loves all that He created. I am sure that God, in His Divine Love and Wisdom, has a perfect Plan for each creature that He created– including the dear animals– but it is all beyond our human understanding. Human souls are made to know, love and serve God, and to live eternally in union with Him. That Eternal Union with God, known to the Saints– is Heaven. And not all of us will be blessed with Heaven, after Death. Human beings have sinned, and needed a Savior– but not animals! The dear animals were the very first ones to behold Baby Jesus, after He was born, and He shared their little stable with them. Does God have a dear little place for the Donkey who took Our Blessed Mother to Bethlehem? I am sure He does! Even if it means, that the Donkey has no need of a life beyond this one! God has a perfect plan, in His Wisdom and Love, for that dear little Donkey! That is how I see it!
The wicked human beings had “no room at the Inn,” for Baby Jesus. The dear animals were the first to greet Him at His lowly birth, in their little stable.
The evil that animals do is physical evil not moral evil.
Oh, so it’s wrong for a man to kill a child but it’s not wrong for a bulldog to maul a child to death?
The bulldog’s owner would be responsible.
All I know is I don’t want to see any pugs nor any purse dogs in heaven, if there are dogs in heaven. No afghans either. Nor poodles. No pitbulls, no rotweilers. Maybe better if No Dogs Allowed is posted on the entrance gate.
I do not want to see any scary alligators, crocodiles, dinosaurs, or sharks in Heaven. Or any scary, “man-eating” monsters! I do not want to see any piranha fish, from the Amazon region– said to be “man-eating fish”– in heaven. Scary! There have been horrific news stories, lately, about an annual August “Pachamama” or “Mother Earth” Festival in Bolivia, in which animals and human beings are sacrificed to the Pachamama, Mother Earth. She is said to “open her mouth” every August, to receive these horrific sacrifices, called “sullus.” Pachamama is viewed there as the “Mother Earth Goddess,” the “Goddess of Fertility.” One young, 30-year-old man was buried alive in a coffin by his friends, as a “sullu,” or sacrifice, during the sacrifice ceremonies– and he managed to escape! Those people are CRAZY! And I think the Pope was nuts, to have anything to do with the Pachamama idols!
What’s Father’s opinion about dog abortions?
We people love our pets and feel obligated to care for them beyond this life. I have told mourners that pets have do not have immortal souls as do people. I offered them hope in that unlike linear time, in eternity past, present and future can be experienced all at once, so that all good things that happened in their earthly life that remain in the souls’s memory can be experienced by them in heaven. So, strive to follow Jesus to heaven in order that you experience your pets and every other good thing that you loved on earth along with the Beatific Vision; but if one chooses hell, then one will be there surrounded by evil and experience complete aloneness and loneliness. It is not magisterial, but it seems to satisfy people’s need to remain connected with the pets for whom they cared yet who have died.
The second “have” should not be there. Pets do not have immortal souls but remain connected to people through memory
C.S. Lewis made that same suggestion, although he drew no conclusion about animal “salvation”. He was careful not to step beyond the Bible and his Anglican catechism.
I believe God has a perfect plan for all of His beloved creatures that He made. It is beyond our human understanding. Animals are simple creatures, and have not rebelled against God and sinned– so, they are not in need of a Savior, and Salvation. I was once told that at one time in history, there were Jews who believed that their wives do not have souls, only the men. And as their “soul-less” wives would have no afterlife, they believed in giving them jewelry and fancy gifts, to make sure they enjoyed this material existence, as it was sll they would have to enjoy.
C.S. Lewis offered the best answer here: “If your eternal happiness depends on your dog going to Heaven, God will see to it that it is there.”
“You see, a man, he walk right into hell with both eyes open, but even the devil can’t fool the dog.”
There is a Twilight Zone episode called “The Hunt” with the wonderful character actor Arthur Hunicutt and written by Earl Hamner Jr.
In the unlikely event you all have not seen this one, I won’t spoil it. I gave you a quote the episode. If you are keen on the dogs in heaven smaltz, you’ll love this one.
I’m looking forward to seeing even my old stuffed animals in Heaven!
Do gay dogs go to heaven? And why are we leaving cats out of the discussion? Some people have pet lizards. Will lizards be in heaven too?
gay dogs, You ever hear anyone ask if all cats go to heaven? Of course they don’t. Along with snakes (even pets) and spiders. When Tobiah left home, did he take a cat with him? (See Tobit 6:2) There are some standards there. Even a heretic like Martin Luther had a dog. He named him Tolpel, which means dolt or idiot. Herr Luther obviously had some issues. Dogs are man’s best friend, as argued a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1870. And, Justice Alito has a dog named Zeus. No Supreme Court Justice has ever admitted to having a cat. Chief Justice Roberts has a chameleon. Any more questions?
“Where they were represented as deviant animals, cats were particularly connected with heretics and idolaters in the high Middle Ages. In iconography one finds representations of cats in the context of demonology and devil-worship, or as the idol allegedly worshipped by Waldensians, Cathars, or the Templars.” says Dr. Irina Metzler.
This reminds me of an old “Twilight Zone” episode . . .
https://www.catholic.com/qa/do-pets-go-to-heaven
Every single person here knows the Church’s teaching. They just don’t like it.
And Father Illo fudged what he knew to not upset somebody.
And this is how it happens on everything.
People start making things up. They bring in the opinions of non-Catholics.
Everybody does it- all the usual arguments here are the same as this.
Exactly. Exactly! That’s how we got from “love the sinner” with regard to gays to people now in the church pushing for acceptance of gay marriage and sodomy and demanding the church change its doctrine. Give a compassionate inch and they’ll take a mile. It’s starting with a compassionate desire not to hurt people’s feelings by telling them that animals might be in heaven. It ends with demanding that the church change its teaching to make animals equal to humans and even eventually demanding that people can marry animals because they’re equal after all. Don’t mock that idea. People mocked gay marriage back in the day. Interspecies marriage is coming down the pike, but only after the gays win acceptance of “intergenerational love” or legalized child sexual abuse.
And don’t forget about aliens. Do aliens go to heaven?
And the miracle of sharing.
And women deacons.
And the empty hell.
I am going to check myself because I might be doing it too.
It is always to notice when somebody else does it on something that I have no problem accepting but I will have to keep an eye on myself.
Here is where it has been revealed to me that I fudge: in accepting that death is being at peace. Many if not most people go on to even greater sufferings after death than here on earth.
You never hear this at church anymore. The sufferings of Purgatory are worse than those of earth.
triplez– Nobody knows for sure,
what happens to the dear animals, after they die. And that is the truth! Catholic theologians came up with the concept of Purgatory, for human beings, and “limbo,” for unbaptized infants who die. Mourning Catholic mothers who lose their precious infants in miscarriages, have tearfully asked priests, what happened to the soul of their dear, lost unborn child. I think that God has a perfect plan of some sort, for every creature that He made. Last week, I saw two elderly blind men walk into the church for Mass, at different times. Each one was securely guided by a Guide Dog. Each Guide Dog quietly lay down under the pews to rest, before the Mass began. It’s a gift of God that the blind men were able, by the God-given help of their wonderful Guide Dogs, to be able to come to Mass! God has often given us great blessings through animals, to help us human beings. Even to help us get to Heaven!
I agree that there is no teaching in the Catholic Church that says where animals go or that they go anywhere.
According to Father Illo-they cease to exist.
According to Father Perozich-they will only be in heaven in your memory. I have never really heard this take before.
If your pet is really in heaven, so are the dinosaurs and the insects and the wild animals. Any animal that ever existed would be there.
All the animals that lived in Eden and had to die because of Adam’s sin would be there. Wonder what they had to say to him when he got there after Christ’s Passion.
I am seeing an idolatry of animals in some comments here. They are not worshipped as God but some commenters seem to idealize them as if they were higher than humans. They are not.
Purgatory is a state of purgation for those who have died in a state of grace but have not been purified of their sins. They will eventually go to heaven.
Limbo is a theological concept originally used for the place where souls who died before the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross waited. It was a place for the just. There is also the idea that infants too young to commit sin who die without baptism could go to limbo.
The Catholic Church hopes that these infants could be saved but it cannot teach that because baptism is necessary for salvation. We entrust them to God’s mercy.
Do dogs prefer the TLM or the Novus Bowwow.
Once a little boy on a school playground found a little dead bird and pointed it out to me. Trying to comfort him, I told him the bird had gone to heaven. He replied, “No, he is dead.”
Mouth of babes.
Thinking about it afterward, the child might have thought I meant the bird had flown heavenward, or his parents might have been Jehovah’s Witnesses, and he was taught that the soul does not go to heaven after death, but that people just die and are resurrected later. One never knows what is going through a child’ mind, unless one has time to ask. You would be surprised what deep “theological” discussions among children are heard on playground.
Faithful doggies need to ask themselves:
“Do any HUMANS go to Heaven?”