Catholic New York August 6,1998 - The Question Box

Will There Be Animals in the Next Life?

By Father John Dietzen

Question: Recently our longtime family pet dog passed away. It caused a lot of grief for all of us, especially the children. What is the Church's teaching on animals in the next life? It's hard to believe that God would have a place here for animals without having a place for them in the hereafter. (Pennsylvania)

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Answer: During the past 3,000 years or so, a great number of Christian and non-Christian philosophers and theologians, as well as plain ordinary folks, have asked the same question.

The answers are varied, but by far the majority answer in the same vein you suggest. Not only humans, but all material creation, will share in the transformed universe of the "new creation" spoken of in Scripture. And that includes animals.

St. Thomas Aquinas is the most well-known Catholic teacher who perhaps thought otherwise. In spite of his respect for the sacredness of all creation, including material beings, he wrote at one point that only human beings, the "elements" (earth, air, fire and water) and heavenly bodies will continue in the coming age. Animals, plants and other corruptible bodies will not (Compendium, Ch. 170).

No one matches St Augustine, however, in the assumption that all the beautiful and enjoyable things of nature, plants, animals, food, the skies, all the delights that image God and lead us to him in this life will do so even more perfectly in the next.

He admits that all will be changed and made incorruptible in the new creation, but he counsels that when you question yourself about what will be there, "you can take away corruption, and then add whatever you want" (Sermon 242).

Most Christian thinkers and writers and poets echo those insights.

Underlying these convictions most of all are the numerous biblical texts pointing to very earthly, and earthy, realities as foretastes of what God has planned for our future life.

Isaiah speaks of the time when death is destroyed forever, when the Lord will provide choice wines and rich foods, and tears are wiped from every face.

Other prophets, the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the New Testament, expand on this image of the coming new creation. As the letter of Peter puts it "What we await are new heavens and a new earth," which God has promised (2 Pt. 3:13).

These questions about what eternal life with the Lord will be like are treated brilliantly and with remarkable scholarship in the book "Land of the Living," by Father James T. O'Connor (1992 Catholic Book Publishing Co.), pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Millbrook.

In his foreword, Cardinal O'Connor speaks of the harmony Christ will bring to that transformed but enduring universe, explicitly referring to dumb animals.

"If, indeed," he writes, "all things were made 'through him,' and if he is the same, yesterday, today and forever, then should it be out of the question that all things will somehow endure?"

While the Church has no explicit teaching on your question, that in a nutshell reflects the way most Christians have answered it through the centuries. -CNS

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'All Creatures...'

August 30, 1998

To the Editor:
Last Sunday morning I arrived at my small church quite early to set up for my duties as organist. I decided to sit back and relax, enioy the air conditioning and do a little reading. What delight came to my heart when I read The Question Box article entitled "Wiil There Be Animals in the Next Life?" (CNY, Aug 6).

Many times my brother and I have discussed this subject in the positive way that this article presents. And since recently acquiring my little dog, Cleopatra, I couldnt agree more with the inclusion of her in the next life. As a musician, I immediately thought of the hymn "AIl Creatures of Our God and King" and the text to such hymns as "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" and "For the Beauty of the Earth."

Thank you, Father John Dietzen and Catholic New York for not only educating but also presenting a positive side of the faith to its I members.

Ron D'Albero
Staten Island