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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Ask Father Hardon
by John A. Hardon, S.J.
Q.
Is it correct to say that pets do not go to Heaven after death because animals do not have immortal souls? Are religious medals for pets wrong? Do they lead to misunderstanding about animals, souls, and Heaven?—I.R., Michigan
A. Pets, as pets, do not go to Heaven. But animals and such like beings may be said to be brought to Heaven because, after the Last Day, they can serve as part of the joys of Heaven. In other words, animals and such like creatures may be said to be brought to Heaven to serve as part of our Heavenly joys. Clearly, we do not need pets to provide happiness in Heaven. But pets and such like creatures will be brought to Heaven to become part of our creaturely happiness in the Heavenly kingdom. Consequently, we may say that animals and such like creatures may be brought to Heaven by God to enable us to enjoy them as part of our creaturely happiness in Heavenly beatitude. Absolutely speaking, medals and such like religious articles may be part of Heavenly beatitude. Certainly, they do not serve the same purpose as other creatures do in Hea ven. However, while they do not serve the purpose which medals do on earth, they may nevertheless be part of God’s mysterious providence in our Heavenly beatitude.
Religious medals for pets are not wrong. The whole question is whether an object, like a religious medal, is used for an appropriate purpose. There is nothing per se wrong with having a religious object on an animal. Clearly a religious object is not necessary for animals. But there is nothing inherently wrong with having a religious object on or near an irrational being.
Certainly a religious medal attached to or associated with an irrational animal can be misunderstood. We cannot say that a religious object helps an animal because somehow the animal is spiritually inspired by the religious object. But there is nothing wrong with having a religious object on or near an animal. The benefit would always come through the mind of some intelligent being who is inspired by the religious object.
Q. What is the difference between the human soul and spirit?
—S.L., Minnesota
A. A human soul is a spirit. Why? Because every human soul is a spiritual being, since it is composed of a substance which is not material. How ever, a human soul must be in the friendship of God in order to be truly spiritual, not only in its nature, but in its purpose.
Q. Is it good to place the tabernacle in a room adjoining the main church instead of in a central place of honor in the sanctuary? A priest told us that “it is an ancient tradition for the tabernacle to be located in a chapel separate from the main body of the church; St. Peter’s in Rome does not have a tabernacle in the center of the church.”
—J.M.S., California
A. The widespread desacralization of tabernacles has practically changed their purpose. From the earliest days of the Church, a tabernacle contained the Real Presence of Christ. As such, a tabernacle was where the living Christ was reserved. Already in the sixteenth century, there were something like one hundred definitions of a tabernacle. What the denial of the Real Presence did was to deprive a tabernacle of its inherent sacredness. A tabernacle always was the place where the living Jesus Christ was believed to be Present in the fullness of His divinity, no doubt hidden behind His sacred humanity. As faith in the Real Presence either disappeared or became obscured, tabernacles lost their inherent sacredness. The following statement may seem incredible. But for many still professed Catholics, there is no Real Presence of the living Christ on earth. Given this fact, the very meaning of tabernacle has disappeared from the minds of millions of once professed Catholics.
Copyright © 1999 Inter Mirifica
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