All Dogs Go To Heaven?

[Fulton Sheen Warrior]

+JMJ+

Okay....My father is a catechist at my parish.

Last week, he was asked if animals go to heaven. He gave a simple answer....'No'. He then when on to explain that animals do not have immortal souls and that being in the presence of God would exceed all the joy we could hope for on earth etc.

However, the little ones kind of.....uh.... 'revolted'. They went to their parents and actually came into class with a quote from
Pope John Paul II , as well as some Scripture verses (I'll see if I can find them later).

My question is.....Does Holy Mother Church have a definitive teaching on the fate of Sparky's soul?

[N/A Gone]

phatcatholic...were we not supposed to debate this?

ironically my recently dead dog was named sparky

[Fulton Sheen Warrior]

+JMJ+

[quote]phatcatholic...were we not supposed to debate this?[/quote]

Oh.....wow I did not know that...sorry.


[quote]ironically my recently dead dog was named sparky[/quote]

Oh my Gosh.....I am so sorry....talk about sticking your foot in your mouth...

[N/A Gone]

Fulton...rock on..I am just givin Phaty carp cause he was supposed to debate me on this issue a while ago..

I am curious on an answer, cause I would love to challenge it..

[Fulton Sheen Warrior]

+JMJ+

Ohhhhh! I gotcha!

In that case any takers?

[N/A Gone]

Phatcatholic?!!!!!!

someone wanna wake him...Im sure he is napping

[heyyoimjohnny]

JMJ

I would say no. I don't have any sources on hand, but it seems to me a pretty common sense issue. Animals have souls; they are alive. They have sensible souls, as opposed to plants. But they don't have reflective or moral souls. They can't "think." They function on a level of instinct. They sense, they do, they don't think. They can't have an idea in their heads that they can act on, and they can't reflect on what they experience, what they did, what they should do, etc. They don't have that ability to decide. They don't have free will.

Also, they are not persons. They do not have a soul created in the image and likeness of God. Man was the only creature created "for his own sake." Going to JPII's reflections on Theology of the Body, Adam realizes he differs from the animals as a body among bodies because his body is the only one who reveals the truth of the immortal soul created in the image and likeness of God, therefore created for love and communion. That is why none of the animals are a suitable helper for him.

So, animals don't have free will, animals cannot love with Divine charity. It is beyond their being. Therefore, they would have no place or purpose in heaven, which would be that communion of Divine love with the Most Holy Trinity, a love which they are incapable of. Natural loves, such as affection, they are capable of. Affection on our part also being the only real reason we want to take them with us to heaven. (unless someone else can identify deeper motives.)

To be created in the image and likeness of God reveals a call to Trinitarian communion.
Animals are not created in the image and likeness of God.
Therefore, animals are not created for Trinitarian communion.

I think it also could be said that there would be no need for animals in heaven. Man is perfectly fulfilled in Trinitarian communion. Animals would serve no purpose. But, like I said, I don't know of any official teachings. So let me know if I'm wrong.

Edited October 30, 2006 by heyyoimjohnny

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Oddly enough, Peter Kreeft says:
[quote][b]19. Will there be animals in Heaven? Will my dead cat be there?[/b]
The simplest answer I know to this question, so frequently asked by children, is: Why not? Children's questions are usually the best ones, and we should beware treating them with any less seriousness than their askers have in asking them. Right now, pets, like everything else in this world, can mediate God's love and goodness to us and train us for our union with him, or they can distract us from him. In Heaven, everything mediates and nothing distracts.[/quote]
[url="http://peterkreeft.com/topics-more/35-faqs_eternity.htm"]http://peterkreeft.com/topics-more/35-faqs_eternity.htm[/url]

[heyyoimjohnny]

Ah, that makes a bit of sense. In my last thought there, I figured that if animals were not created for their own sake, then they must have been created for man's sake, or the sake of glorifying God. Maybe I am a little cold in my reasoning, but I guess I don't see a reason why God wouldn't keep that which He created for man's sake around, even after everything has come to completion.

[son_of_angels]

It makes no sense that dogs would be in "heaven" per se. They are created for the enjoyment of natural man, when he experiences with a body and soul together; but in heaven one has no body, so taking any kind of lower pleasure than the highest pleasure in God would be ridiculous.
However, I won't say that we don't take to heaven the things we love for God's sake, in thanksgiving for his providence. Perhaps one can say that, out of God's love for us, our pets (provided we loved them for God's sake, and they were loyal, well-behaved animals) continue to exist, even beyond our death, in the memory of God, just as he remembers every moment of our lives.
When we are rejoined with our bodies in the resurrection, and inhabit the new earth in what is both natural and supernatural happiness, who's to say that God will not create again for us that which gave us the most well-ordered happiness in this world?