the rix mix

Do animals go to heaven? I ran a couple web searches on this question, it's an enormous topic. Lots of people want to know, lots are quite certain one way or another. Discussion threads running to 50 pages. Books for adults & for children. Entire websites dedicated to Christian-0riented pet bereavement. Does a beloved pet go to heaven whether or not the pet owner gets in? How about wild animals? Only mammals? How about birds, fish, snakes, spiders? So what if conservative protestant ministers don't like the idea; they base their message on the premise that since hardly anyone's being saved anyway, why should animals - who can't even be "born again" or tithe the church much less vote Republican - receive a bye? It's those "liberal" churches that have animal blessing Sundays. Not wanting to be a sentimentalist, I asked a Franciscan, since members of that order would be the most favorably disposed toward animal salvation, if it could be theologically squared with Catholic doctrine. Our Franciscan gives us an "I don't know" with a wink. Fair enough. But this blog likes the Francis from Assisi. So I tried a Jesuit, John A. Hardon (yep), 'cause they don't mess around & they also drove my Dad out of the Church before he graduated NYC Xavier high school. Father Hardon says, " Pets, as pets, do not go to Heaven. But animals and such like beings may be said to be brought to Heaven..." He also speaks to the controversial matter of pets wearing religious medals. I made up my own mind a long time ago after seeing a classic Twilight Zone episode.

Labels: religion