The following is a chronological listing of several e-mails I sent to a dear lady who read one of my stories here and had become discouraged because her clergyman told her animals don't have souls. She had been seeking encouragement to assuage her extreme grief.

E-mail 1
I don't want to waste all this so here goes, with all personal information generalized to protect the privacy of the dear person who e-mailed me.

I just read YOUR story this morning! Your baby was such a sweetie. Not ALL priests believe that. I just came upon a web site the other day where a priest explained, "If you need it in Heaven, you'll have it!"

I'm going to see if I put this in an e-mail I sent my dear landlady. She is a lector at the Catholic church we both attended

You are a wonderful, loving person. I love the part of your story where you wrote that your furbaby even melted hard teenage hearts!

That is a precious picture and I'm adding it to my MSN Photo Display.

E-mail 2
Got it! Thank God I saved those e-mails!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2003/10/13/urbananimal.DTL

This is a Franciscan priest who says animals go to Heaven.

You and I know there are sourball priests! You know, when you go to confession and see 25 people waiting for Father Friendly and one desperate old lady who hasn't sinned in twenty years and is willing to be raked over the coals by Father Snotty!

You have to go about midway down this page to find the priest's answer. It's the same one I read perhaps 30 years ago in Ann Landers. She had a priest she used as a resource from time to time to answer questions, as well as a minister and rabbi.

Her priest gave an answer based on Augustinian theology. St. Augustine said that we would find everything good we had on earth up in Heaven. The priest therefore concluded that if anyone had a pet they just wouldn't be happy in Heaven without, that pet would be in Heaven with them.

Somebody else I just love, Jack Van Impe, a Pentecostal evangelist who is very friendly toward the Catholic faith and often uses news items about the Pope, says the same thing, quoting the scripture that says God will withhold no good thing from us.

Van Impe says a simple prayer to Jesus to have your pet in Heaven will work! I made a long, circuitous journey through Pentecostalism before returning to the Catholic Church, and I truly love and respect Jack Van Impe.

I'd take anything he said as Gospel!

E-mail 3 (here's what I found when I went to this site to research this for her)

One more note: Go to www.jvim.com to get this answer. Go to Search on the right-hand column. Type in two words: animals heaven. This is what I got. Jack Van Impe wrote a whole book about it! I really, truly trust this guy. He isn't one of those snake-oil type evangelists!


Animals in Heaven
Available on DVD and VHS

For anyone who has ever lost a beloved pet, Dr. Jack and Rexella Van Impe have good news! You will see your furry or feathered friends again - in heaven! Explore this exciting truth taught by twelve of the greatest Christian theologians.

You will see and hear the exact spine-tingling statements from the pens of men like Dr. John Walvoord, Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Dr. John Calvin and many others. This video study deals with animal intelligence, animal communication, and how animals literally teach humans some valuable lessons.

E-mail 4
I also want to add the reason that I love Dr. Jack Van Impe is simply because he DOES respect the Catholic faith. Most Protestants do not AT ALL. He even did a whole teaching on the Glory Be....World without end. Amen.

I have loved him ever since. I remember him saying he thought animals went to Heaven but I didn't even know about the book until I went to the web site today to find it for you.

E-mail 5

I was raised Catholic, went the whole route through the evangelical churches, and came Home to Rome!

Catholics divide it two ways: body and soul. The Protestant churches divide it up three ways: body, soul, and SPIRIT.

As I wrote in my previous e-mails, Jack Van Impe wriggles out of it this way: a simply prayer to Jesus to have your pet in Heaven will suffice. God will perfectly RECREATE your pet there for you!

I don't know that animals DON'T have souls! If so, WHAT jumped on my bed the other day and there was nothing there????? I told Anthony how much I loved him and explained that I didn't want him hanging here. I wanted him to go to Jesus and then live with my son, who would love him until I get there. Since I claim Psalm 34:7 every day, I told Anthony that I would ask the angels surrounding the house to escort him to Heaven. I may have been panicking for nothing--I didn't want him stuck here. God may simply, in His kindness, have sent him for a visit to reassure me!

This was a big, heavy jump and it landed on Anthony's spot on the bed!

Jack Van Impe and any Protestant str Bible Only--Martin Luther's sola scriptura: this means they don't look at tradition at all, although HE DOES on his show, bless his little heart.

There are many instances in Catholic lore of people coming back to thank somebody who prayed them out of Purgatory.

The Catholic faith changes as we become more enlightened.

I went to St. Catherine School in Pelham, NY, in the 1950's. We were taught Limbo up the butt.

The Church has swept Limbo under the rug, forgetting all about it now!

Official doctrine changes and, if you look at my previous e-mails, you'll find a link to a priest who DOES believe animals go to Heaven and does animal blessings at his church.

Think about it! Where is God going to get the Lion and the Lamb from????? Hmmmmmm. hehehehehehe

E-mail 6

And I forgot the main reason I was writing AGAIN this morning!!! Your furbaby was truly used of God when she touched those hardened teenage hearts and the hearts of little children. She was doing God's work, truly a little furry minister of the Lord. Do you think our God would forget her? All Catholics and Christians know this instinctively. Why else every time I get e-mail from one of the prayer groups I belong to on the web, Catholic AND Christian, do I keep getting pictures of kitties and puppies and other cute critters?

Your Monsignor was stuck on Old Theology, probably fearful and afraid to Think Outside of the Box. My boyfriend Jessie is African American and there is a wonderful expression in that community which perfectly expresses this situation: one monkey don't stop no show!

Pray for your Monsignor and realize there are many priests who DO think animals go to Heaven!

Hope this helps everyone!

Love,
Judy