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My daughter has a pet gerbil who is quite old (nearly 5 years). He is ill and we are considering euthanizing him.

My daughter's question is, "Do animals go to Heaven?"

I know that the teaching is that animals do not have rational souls and the plan of Salvation is meant for humans.

But how do you explain to your child that the pet that they love is not going to go to Heaven?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Dear Carole,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Humans are the only earthly creatures created in the image of God, and enfused with a soul. Our salvation is made possible by the birth, life, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Our task here on earth is to live our lives according to the Word of God, and ultimately be accountable and judged for our actions. Knowing right from wrong and being repentant because we have offended our Creator is a human action that has no counterpart in non-human animals. At our judgment based on our lives, salvation may be given to us by our faith and works on earth through the mercy of God

The entire point of our existence is more than getting to Heaven. It is what we do when we get there. We give glory and honor to God as we participate in the Heavenly Liturgy, which is represented by the liturgies we are given by the Church. Humans created in the image of God are capable of this action. Animals as a creation of God have much for us to love, admire and care for. But they are not capable of participating in the Divine, giving glory and praise to God.

To answer your daughter, however, all is not lost. At the end of earthly existence, all creation will be taken up into the Heavenly Kingdom. This is quite a profound thought, that everything in the created universe, including animals, rocks, the earth, the universe�everything will be joined with our Creator for all time.

You could tell your daughter that people can go to heaven when they die. When animals die, they have to wait here until God is ready to take them too.

Many people misspeak when it comes to the events beyond our earthly existence. I hope my words have not gone beyond any understanding given to us by true revelation and Jesus Christ.

Hope this helps,

Deacon El

Ok, so the Catechism doesn't address the issue. But I found a catholic website that directly answers this question. BTW, how old is your daughter?

http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/may-june99/Q&A.html

A common question of children (and adults!) is whether animals (our pets) are/will be in Heaven. The best explanation I could offer my children - because the Scriptures focus on the salvation of mankind (those made in His image and likeness) is that when man, who was given dominion over creation, fell, the whole chain of creation tumbled with him. Christ is referred to as the second Adam, the Lord of Heaven, who will reign and make all things new. God made provision for the animal creation by having Noah include them in a vessel, which would preserve them from total extinction. Even the animals of the Israelites were preserved from the angel of death, which struck the firstborn, when they were safely in a dwelling marked with the blood of the Passover lamb (a shadow/type of Christ). I know I've barely scratched the surface on this subject. I understand that the book There Is Eternal Life for Animals: A Book Based on Bible Scripture by Niki Behrikis Shanahan (non-Catholic) may explain this much better. C.S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft offer some good explanations as well. I trust in God's mercy and love that He does all things well and the way in which He weaves and concludes this mysterious tapestry of life will have us in awe both now and throughout eternity.

Fourteen Questions About Heaven PETER KREEFT
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0462.html
(see #10. ARE THERE ANIMALS IN HEAVEN?)


Woody

My pastor and I were discussing this very thing recently and he told me that his mom told him when he was a little boy that God gives us everything that we need in heaven to make us happy with Him - and that would surely include our pets. It was comforting to him as a little boy, to me as a grown woman, and I hope maybe to your daughter.

Peace,

Talitha

Dear Friends,

If my pets aren't with me in heaven, then it just wouldn't be . . . Heaven!

There are Ukrainian folkloric traditions associated with animals in the Life of Christ.

One such story (and I never fail to be reduced to tears when I read it, usually during Lent), is about a honeybee that happened to land on the Cross of Christ during His Crucifixion.

It began to notice nature's "nervousness" via the sun darkening, the winds etc.

It soon realized that something terribly wrong was happening here and it felt very comfortable beside Him Who was on the Cross.

As the soldier raised his lance to pierce the Side of Christ, he yelled out, "Darn insect!" as the bee stung him under his arm in defence of Christ.

The bee was thrown to the ground and was killed underneath the soldier's foot.

On Easter Sunday, as the Myrrh-bearing women were walking from the Tomb after seeing Christ, they talked amongst themselves as they went.

"Did you see that beautiful brooch our Lord had on His Chest? How it shone with such brightness!"

But to this another replied, "Oh, that was no brooch! I saw it! It was a honey-bee . . ."

Yes, I'm shedding tears now, probably because I grew up around honey-bees.

Alex

Dear Talitha,

I noticed you have the beautiful miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Ostra-Brama in your avatar! Magnificent!

It was so named because it was enshrined over a spiked wall, thus the name "ostra brama" or "sharp wall."

People who walked underneath it would often "break their caps" or remove their headgear and cross themselves as they went.

The Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko once saw some Polish students walk by without doing this in reverence for the icon.

He later wrote this: "And as for those Liakh students (Polish) who didnt' break their caps to the Mother of God of Ostra-Brama - but you can always tell a fool by the way he walks!"

It is an Annunciation icon similar to that of St Seraphim of Sarov's "Joy of all Joys!"

Alex

Thank you so much everyone! Your answers helped me help my daughter! She is 9 years-old and a very empathetic and sensitive child. This is the first pet she has lost and it has hit her quite hard.

Thank you again!

My dad had a good answer to this "where animals go" question when I was a kid of about 7 who had just lost both grandma and baba. I was asking about what goes to heaven and what doesn't.... he said that we don't believe that animals go to heaven, but that God loves us and He makes everything that lives for a purpose and we're just not smart enough to understand God's plan for everything. So whatever God does with animals is going to be good, even if we don't understand it. He said we must always be kind to animals. And then he cleverly made me forget the original question a little by deflecting it into a story about St. Francis and the wolf. My dad was very good at delivering heavy answers and making them sensible to a little kid, though - I always appreciated that he told the truth, but he knew when to change the subject into an age-appropriate lesson as well.

My niece had a couple tales from her time as a CCD teacher for her Roman Catholic parish. She took the job when she was 17. She's exceedingly well versed in the faith and very mainstream - she's a theology major now, starting her senior year in college. (We need more sane theologians teaching, as you know.) The little kids - I think she had 2nd or 3rd graders - came in and asked her a bunch of tough questions. One little girl asked my favorite kicker question, one many of us have asked ourselves. In this case, the kid said: "My mommy and daddy say that grandma is an angel now who watches over me from heaven. Is that really what happens?" As my niece pointed out: Gee, you don't want a kid to doubt well-meaining parents, since they need to trust and honor their parents... but you cannot tell a kid that grandma is probably in purgatory and needs OUR prayers before she's ready to understand it - nor can you tell her, even if grandma is in heaven, she wouldn't be an angel because angels are a whole 'nother species altogether? Her answer (and I think it is the right one, I think in that case, taken from my dad's book): You get the age appropriate but correct lesson across. Rather, you can gently use the question as an opportunity to introduce the concept of angels and saints on a really basic level and to reenforce the lesson that God loves us all and that He wants us to come back to Him. Which is what my niece did.

When I was a kid, again, about age 7 when grandma and baba died, I had asked a similar question to the kiddie my niece had in class. My dad pointed me to the icon of St. Michael my mom had (the angel looked pretty doggoned serious and ready for battle in it, I must say) - "see, Annie, he's an angel - they aren't people like us - but St. Michael serves God in a special way" - then he pulled a St. Jude medal that he carried around since his Army days "see, Annie, this is showing St. Jude - he was a person like you and me..." and he told me about St. Jude.

Dear Friends,

In fact, Theosis refers not only to our deification, but also to the transfiguration of the Cosmos, which includes animals.

On the walls of St Sophia's cathedral in Kyiv, there are not only the figures of deified Saints, but also of animals, birds, bears etc.

And even . . . wrestling matches!

Christian theology on animals has tended to be underdeveloped and could have led to the West's bad relationship with nature and the environment with an overemphasis on man's domination over it (and to "dominate" meant to have the power to "abuse" it).

Alex

This is my belief

How can heaven be a place of perfect happiness unless our loved ones are there with us.

Certainly all my pets have been loved ones.

And God's creatures that have committed no sin

Yes they are in heaven and that is why I want to be good so I can be reunited with them and all my loved ones.

When my last pet died, I asked my previous pets to show him the ropes.

Dear LGG,

You are absolutely right - our pets are innocents and I believe do love their Creator by the very act of their existence.

They betray a wisdom and an awareness of reality that is inspiring.

They love unconditionally and forgive us constantly, no questions asked.

May human beings be as our pet friends already are!

Alex