In this episode, the guys explore the relationship between the Catholic Church and man’s best friend and debate whether or not dogs go to heaven.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- What Saints and Popes have said on whether or not dogs go to Heaven
- The famous religious order that is also known as “The Hounds of The Lord”
- The Dog that was venerated as a saint by medieval Catholics
- How the Saint Bernard got its name
- And much more!
Loved it !!! So did my 3 german shorthair pointers Babe , Gunner and Chumba lol , beagle named Copper and he doesn’t nip lol and my cat Ariella Lucia . Great Show . I love my animals . I just wish some humans could show such love like them . Thank you ! the show was wonderful.
If everyone had the heart of a dog or cat, the world would be a much better place to live. All they want is Your love 💕. I know in the last 48 years we buried so many dogs and cats. I know all my pets are in heaven, where else could they go. Someday we will all meet at the Rainbow Bridge.
Amen to all you said. You have a big heart to have had loved and nurtured that many dogs and cats. I keep saying same thing if humans can learn to love as much as a dog this world would be a better place to live. My dear best friend just passed away yesterday heart failure she’s been battling for three years. I took one day at a time to be with you trying to savor each day. I know my heart is broken into tiny pieces.,
Whether dogs go to Heaven or not…..when anything dies God takes it back to Himself. He created all things and all things belong to Him. So, whatever He does with His creations is just fine with me.
Thank you for addressing this issue. I have always hoped that there would be animals – and plants – in Heaven. Frankly, I would rather spend eternity with them than with some of the self-righteous people I am afraid will populate Heaven.
Amen Rebecca!!))
A page about “Catholics and the Animal World” y’all might like: https://www.fisheaters.com/animals.html
Please tell the good Father it’s Dachshund. A Datsun is a car that is no longer made lol 🙂 great show.
Actually Datsuns are now known as Nissans. Same company.
What about Cujo?
Fr Rich, I agree with you that dogs go to Heaven. One of the many reasons I believe this to be true is that I know a vet that offers the service of coming to your home at the end of your dog’s life to put them to sleep. She says that often she can see the soul leave the body of the animal. Other animals present, she believes, also see the soul leave. She said she has seen it happen many times. I’m surprised you guys didn’t mention Noah’s Ark. Great example of God’s love, respect and devotion to animals. He preserved what he had already created. Great show!!
I agree with you Patricia! I was wondering why they didn’t mention Noah’s Ark too. Of course I believe dogs are in Heaven. I do not agree with these Catholics that think they are able to predict what God allows in Heaven. How do they know? Dogs are one of God’s most spiritual creatures. Of course they go to Heaven!!
I fear your vet may be right. Our rat rescue used to have a vet who came to the house, and once when she
had to come here to euthanize a dying rat, the other rats looked on and began acting frantic, they KNEW what
was being done, but being animals unable to reason, they couldn’t know WHY or understand WHY. It spooked me
which is why we now take sick rats to the vet’s office.
My first vet in 1985 told me that suffering is so much worse for animals because they can’t be made to understand
that their suffering will end soon….humans can be reasoned with and have it explained, and when you can’t see the
light at the end of the tunnel, it makes the suffering seem longer. This is why euthanasia for a suffering animal is a true
mercy. And we know they go right to Heaven, since they never sinned.
That’s what I think… God’s mercy is endless. If you’re loving pet was that meaningful and your pet touched the lives of others then to me your dog is a good ambassador of love and peace. They have not sinned ….so why can’t they go to heaven? My eight-year-old Maltipoo suffered from heart condition for three years of her 8 short years of life yesterday. Unfortunately I am here at the hospital confined. My husband found her passed away on the couch. She was waiting for me to come home sitting in her favorite spot facing the door. Can only hope. God has given her freedom of pain and suffering. That it is really meant one day I see her again in heaven.
Cats, on the other hand, go directly to hell.
LOL! My pet rats might agree. 🙂
I am SICKENED to read your comment and even more SICKENED AND ANGRY that this Catholic Talk Show allowed such a comment! YOU are one of the reasons I fight for animals and seek to expose and prosecute their abusers. YOU are one of the many “Michael Vick’s” out there SICK, ABUSIVE, SADIST, CRUEL, SOCIOPATHIC. YOU are the reason that I never tire of the fight against such SATANS in this world and I will use may last breath, my very last; breath to fight against, expose, FIGHT LIKE HELL SICK, CRUEL PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!!!! You wanna pick on someone, CHOOSE ME. LE’TS GO. I’M READY FOR YOU WEAK MAN. BRING IT! Or is your pitiful, sick, cat and animal abusing self afraid? Yup, that’s what I thought. You’ve just been challenged by a girl. Bring it on, “Big Man”.
What you lack as a “man” you take out on precious, vulnerable animals. NOTHING makes me madder. Profiling your nasty comment, my guess is your single, or divorced, hate women, or can’t get a girlfriend, so you hate on the most vulnerable among us – cats and all animals. YOU ARE SCARY in the same concern as a Jeffrey Dahmer because when people make comments like you just made, it reveals a very dark, deep murderous side. “Church on Sunday – abuse and kill animals the rest of the week”. I’ve seen the likes of you over and over and over – smiling, respectable but sociopathic underneath those “respectable church layers”. If I ever have the great misfortune of running into a man like you and if I EVER saw a monster like you hurting an animal, it’s on and you will have to contend with me. I’m bigger than a kitty so come at me “John” who says cats go to hell.
What about an animal that has been loved by a human with Gods love, could such an animal be eligible to go to Heaven?
Hey there! Loving your episodes. You guys are awesome, keep up the good work. Also, I wanted to know if you guys will be at the LA Congress this year? Would love to meet you all in person. Thank you for inspiring and using your gifts of spreading the good news, God Bless!
Thanks for the podcast. My dog passed away a couple months ago. I was heartbroken. When family members have passed away, I grieved but my grief was mitigated by the knowledge they were in a better place and I would see them again. Not knowing if I would see my dog again, seemed to make the loss harder to bear. I think the podcast touched on lasting relationships and that offers hope that these relationships, and the partners in that relationship, will continue to exist. This is what I have pondered: God is love and we are products of God’s love. Like God’s love is everlasting, I think our love is also everlasting as long as we don’t love the wrong things or love the right things in the wrong way. If this “right” love is everlasting, than the object of that love must also be everlasting. So I think the love and relationship we have for our pets, in a sense, gives immortality to them … maybe.
Did Fr. Rich ever “go fishing “? If he feels so connected,then did he ever put a poor worm on a hook? Is ok to fish or hunt for sport, or ok just to put food on the table? Maybe we should all be vegetarians.
We need to be saved but if a dog has no rational soul it could not sin therefore it does not need salvation.
Animals go to Heaven automatically (ALL of them) since they never sinned, you are right. What the question really should be is, Do HUMANS go to Heaven and if so, how few? Christ Himself said in St Matthew 7:13-14 (Douay-Rheims): “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!”
He was not speaking of animals there, but humans.
Animals, like all Creation, suffer the effects of sin due to the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. We truly are the” poor, banished children of Eve”, as the Hail Holy Queen prayer reminds us. Because animals and humans were bound up in one Creation made by God, they suffer when we suffer, and they are blessed when we are blessed.
Romans 8:18-22 tells us that ALL Creation groans in pain until now, and it is because of the sin of our first parents.
I was really hesitant to listen to this, because as a born Jew who is a convert to Catholic Tradition, I have had to become so used to (novus ordo) Catholics saying that “animals don’t go to heaven….and it doesn’t matter what you do to them” >:( That is why I was so heartened to read a Traditional Catholic site that did their best to say yes, God makes a place for animals.
I founded and run a pet rat rescue (we also have a sanctuary for elderly, disabled, and terminally ill rats called St Francis Rat Sanctuary), and have had to deal with a ton of abuse because of the hatred people have for one of God’s smallest and most abused creatures, the rat. I think it is very good and something that is a great comfort to me, that Catholics are changing their views on animals. Its about time!
Baha u la was asked once if when we die if we will be with our animals. His reply was ” I you need your animal in Heaven it will be there”.
God created everything, why wouldn’t all created things be in heaven, including his creatures ?
I have to believe that my precious dogs, cats, and horse that have gone on before me will be there to greet me. Otherwise, for us animal lovers, it wouldn’t be Heaven.
I don’t know the answer but a child once asked me if her dog would be in heaven when she got there. I told her that we were promised that we would be completely happy in heaven, so if we needed our dogs for us to be happy in heaven that they would be there.
In the garden of Eden, paradise and the foreshadowing of heaven the first thing Adam did was name the animals. God the source of goodness itself, must love your dog more than you do. Excellent work, keep it up.
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” — Will Rogers
I knew my cats went to Heaven because I felt their footprints walking across my bed. I was very sorrowful when they had passed so I felt better when they came to visit I told my husband what happened and he said he felt the same thing that night he was surprised that I had felt the same thing. So yes they do go to Heaven!
Easy, guys. I’ve listened to the episode, but I think some points made may lead to misconceptions, as I could see by the comments.
To go to heaven, one must be a “person”, which means an imortal being with intellect (consciousness and reason) and will (spiritual will acting towards the known good). A human being is a person in the sense he/she has a rational soul with both intellect and will, thus capable of knowing of the good (God) and voluntarily acting towards the it (Him). Animals, such as the dog, have sensitive souls and are not capable of neither knowing good or acting voluntarily towards it. Dogs are not “persons”.
So can dogs go to heaven?
YES, if by heaven we mean all Creation renewed in Christ (more specifically in the end of time), “a new heaven and a new earth”, and since animals are part of creation, they are part of this renewed reality. In other words, dogs and other animals do not simply disappear, as does not the rest of created reality at the end of time.
NO, if by Heaven we mean its strict sense, the beatific vision Jesus Christ allowed to us with His death and resurrection, that humans will have when dying in friendship with God. So no: if I die and go to heaven, I won’t meet the beloved pets which died before me, as I met them individually when living in this world (and neither I’ll need to, as I will be in a state of perfect happiness and will need nothing else whatsoever). Pooch and Whiskers are not waiting for me in heaven.
I would never limit the power of almighty God. If he wants us to be happy in heaven and your happiness includes your animals, then I think they would be there.
Ryan… if dogs do go to heaven then you will have a heap of patting to do… 🙂
Hi guys,
Cats are up there too stop being prejudiced. I sure do believe that we will see the animals we loved who loved us back in Heaven. They chose to love us, be loyal to us, be protective about us, etc. Why can’t we have pets in Heaven? I agree with Fr. Rich. Many animals save us from predators, burning houses, and other dangers only they can sense. Their instincts save us. They are saint-like in this as far as their species is concerned. They could save themselves and leave us behind. They don’t when they are attached to us.
I am still missing the animals I loved and who loved me back during my lifetime. If we consider Heaven to be a place similar to earth and we are surrounded by our loved ones then those beings can be human and animal. Why not?!
Ryan Della Crosse no dog would bite Jesus TWICE!
Personally I love animals in general and cats and dogs in particular. Ryan D., fish are not capable of loving or forming bonds like mammals do. Although there are some wild animals who look at us and see us only as takeout food for their family.
I just read your backgrounds out there on the Internet, and I am so glad you put your personal data out there! Enquiring minds needed to know!