Well, I think I now have a clue where all my anti-pet hate mail comes from …
By Gina Spadafori
September 24, 2008
Classic. Absolutely freakin’ classic. And thanks to Cheryl for sending it … and yes, I know they’re fake! Still funny.
And by the way, when I was at Sacred Heart elementary school, one of the priests told me that if there were not dogs in heaven, well, it wouldn’t be heaven, would it? I didn’t specifically ask about cats, but I’m guessing the answer would be the same. Thanks, Father Madigan!
Catholics spell better than do Presbyterians, too. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 24, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
OMG!!! That is freaking hysterical! Thanks for the belly laugh :)
Comment by Saint Lover — September 24, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
That is absolutely priceless!
I have news for the Presbyterians though…
if they look in the Bible, as they told others to do…in the Book of Revelation it says that Jesus is riding a white horse.
Thank you very much, case closed. There are animals in Heaven.
Comment by Marcy — September 24, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
I absolutely LOVE THAT!!!
I’m so sending that to my daughter’s school. She attends a Catholic school and last year, we lost so many pets. She was just crushed by it.
When the priest came into class to visit the kids during religion, they all got very upset when they were told the Pope said something along the lines that there’s no animals in heaven. The poor kids across the board decided they wanted the other Pope back. Or a new one. We’re talking 30 5th graders, full blown hysteria, tears and all.
In any event, that will tickle my daughter to no end.
Bless you Gina! I totally needed a good laugh. We got word just yesterday that my mother, an almost 5 year breast cancer survivor, now has positive markers showing in her blood. They’re trying to find out where the cancer is in her body right now with tests and such. I do wonder what are the statistical chances of a biological mother and daughter having BC at the same time.
Again, thanks for the laugh. I plan to send that to her too :)
Comment by Sharon H — September 24, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
That would almost get me back to Mass. Loved it!
Comment by kb — September 25, 2008 @ 12:22 am
When I was a kid, they told us that animals in general don’t go to heaven because they don’t have immortal souls—but that:
1. It’s Heaven. Anything that is essential to your happiness, will be there.
2. Our pets that love us, who “live and move and have their being” in us the way we do in God, will be there because we’re there.
The current pope is a great cat lover, and before he became pope, anywhere he went in Rome he was followed by cats, as he is apparently on apeaking terms with all the street cats in Rome.
I doubt seriously that he’s expecting a cat-free Heaven.:)
Comment by Lis — September 25, 2008 @ 4:30 am
Old priest from our old parish said pretty much the same as Lis posted. Great guy.
Comment by trek — September 25, 2008 @ 5:13 am
Oh this is the best! I bet that priest would have a shot at converting even this wild heathen. (Wouldn’t recommend trying it, though; it gets spendy replacing those altars that burst into flames.)
I hope Our Lady of the Last Word has a magnificent Blessing of the Animals, right out front. Feast of Saint Francis is October 4. They can throw the poo at the Presbyterians.
Some time ago, a lady in my breed club was dealing with a heartbroken kid; her pastor had told her right after her beloved dog died that she would not see her in heaven.
Nice guy.
I found this lovely page by a Franciscan Friar, which is a bit much theology for a grieving kid, but a nice summary for Christians:
http://www.americancatholic.or.....ature2.asp
We Pagans need no such reassurances; it’s nice that an “insider” offers them to those who need to combat the human chauvinism that sometimes wears a vestment.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 25, 2008 @ 6:53 am
Sadly, my husband correctly calls Photoshop Job.
Note that the photos of the signs are all identical — same cars in the background, same shadows, etc.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 25, 2008 @ 7:03 am
Photoshop or not, that’s hysterically funny. Though certainly not humor that was ever be found at the Catholic school I grew up attending.
Comment by Neil — September 25, 2008 @ 7:38 am
Oh sure. But still funny.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 25, 2008 @ 7:43 am
I would like to hear more discussion about the sprititual nature of dogs. A story I have have been writing is about an aging farmer who comes to believe that a dog that appears out of nowhere on his farm is an angel that has come to help him rebuild his lost life.
The story began to come into my head just after my Brandy died and I was talking to a friend who accidentally ran over his old collie dog Laddie with his milk truck. We talked about how empty and heartbroken we felt about their tragic ends and then how it didnt take long for either of us to find new dogs that also seemed to come to us in seemingly predestined ways.
I am not a religious man and I did not take much solice in the little card about the “Rainbow Bridge” my vet sent me after she put Brandy down. In fact I thought it was silly. But for certain, her death affected me much more than I had anticipated and I surprised even myself in the lengths I went to give her a permanant place at my farm and how I talk to her and leave her little treats in her bowl on her head stone.
My Grandmother used to say that no one is really dead as long as we remember them. She is still alive in my memories as are Brandy and Ceasar and Monte and Brownie and so many others. Does it make a difference if some are human and some are dogs?
What is it about our relationship with them that motivates us to do the things we do and wish in our hearts that some mythical bridge over the River Styx could ever exist? Is it a concidence that the guardian to the underworld was a three headed dog or does it have some deeper symbolic meaning?
What do we mean when we talk about a dog’s spirit? Is it truely something that they posess or is it simply another characteristic we have bred into them. Or, is it something we project on them?
Is it a true life force we take from them, or an act of self delusion?
So, please. Talk about this more.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — September 25, 2008 @ 8:08 am
Not even photoshop: http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/ Designs 1 and 11. Hilarious, but alas, just internet imagination.
It’s been my impression Dogs and Religion is a lot like Dogs and Politics (or, more accurately _____ and Religion and _____ and Politics). Someone, somewhere, will get offended or be offensive, possibly both.
Comment by Christine S — September 25, 2008 @ 8:39 am
It’s been my impression Dogs and Religion is a lot like Dogs and Politics (or, more accurately _____ and Religion and _____ and Politics). Someone, somewhere, will get offended or be offensive, possibly both.
Comment by Christine S — September 25, 2008
I would be seriously disappointed if that weren’t true. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 25, 2008 @ 8:47 am
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — September 25, 2008 @ 8:08 am
“I would like to hear more discussion about the sprititual nature of dogs.”
Here’s one dog person’s take on it:
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/animals-heaven.html
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 25, 2008 @ 8:55 am
The question does seriously lead one to consider treatment of all animals…and insects if it is true that dogs have spirits — which I mean duh, if people have spirits/souls/some kind of ethereal spark… all other animals do.
I’m not one for the sanctity of human life, I say if human life is sacred then so are dogs and cats and bunnies and so on. It’s much easier to say yep they’re just robots and humans are special so let’s get to killin’.
Comment by Sheyna — September 25, 2008 @ 9:00 am
I think it is a very slippery slope to consider the possibility that everything has a “spirit” (or soul in this context). If you do then you wind up like some Hindus that believe even the smallest creature has a right to life. A friend of mine from India describes monks who go door to door with bedding infested with fleas begging for alms to help them feed the fleas. They then proceed to lie down on the bedding allowing the fleas to have a little lunch.
No thanks.
In that sense however, I would prefer to take the Native American approach that perhaps there are spirits in the animals and even plants but that each serves some purpose. In their philosophy they have made a bargain with the buffalo to feed their people while allowing the herd as a whole to survive and thrive. The wolf is not seen as a competitor but a brother. When any animal is killed it must not be wasted but utilized fully and an apology made to its spirit for the lending of its life.
Here is another way to look at my question. What do you draw from your pet? Is there an inspiration at work? Does having your dog or cat send you out into the world or withdraw from it? Do they call you to do things you would not have otherwise done? Other than the loss of their companionship how would your life change if they were not there? If they had never been there?
Is it a new element of your life you did not anticipate or a substitute for other things?
Could they be a reminder of some other thing that was and is no more?
Another blogger her sent me a private email with the following quote that I have become quite fond of: “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.”
Milan Kundera
So I ask you, what is it about them that can transport us so?
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — September 25, 2008 @ 9:30 am
Send me to the Rainbow Bridge, then.
Moreover, animal-loving Presbyterians could consider Buddhism if they don’t want to convert to Catholicism.
“Animals possess Buddha nature (according to the Mahayana school) and therefore an equal potential to become enlightened. Moreover, the doctrine of rebirth held that any human could be reborn as an animal, and any animal could be reborn as a human.”
Comment by redstarcafe — September 25, 2008 @ 10:23 am
The Bible says that He will give us the desires of our heart…
and this definitely is a desire of mine…to see all my pets there.
Comment by Marcy — September 25, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
This reminds me of the Mark Twain quote:
“Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
Comment by Carol — September 25, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Bernie, Everyone, this is my favorite:
Last Will and Testament of An Extremely Distinguished Dog
It is “written” by Silverdene Emblem O’Neill, otherwise called “Blemie” - Eugene O’Neill’s dog:
http://www.eoneill.com/texts/blemie/contents.htm
Comment by Nadine L. — September 25, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Thank you Bernie for sharing your quote. For years I have held a picture in my mind of all my pets and I sitting on a grassy green hill overlooking a lake with a warm breeze blowing and all of us just sharing the beautiful day together. Makes me tear up each time the picture plays in my head.
Comment by VJ — September 25, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
“So I ask you, what is it about them that can transport us so?”
Bernie, I think that all you have to do is look in an animal’s eyes and know that there is a sentient, in the Buddhist sense, being there. We are not separate from them. They feel pain, experience emotions and, as any cat person surely knows, have ideas and opinions about things. So why wouldn’t we grieve when we lose a companion animal? And, in fact, why shouldn’t we grieve for anyone with whom we have an emotional relationship, whether it be a human or an animal? It makes perfect logical sense to me. We’re all in this world together and some of us have the privilege of sharing our lives with animals along with humans.
I was allergic to animals as a child and never got to have a dog or cat until I was in my 40s, so, believe me, I don’t take it for granted. Every day one of our cats or our dog does something that makes me realize again how special it is to share one’s life with another species. And it still tickles me when one of the cats comes when I call her or our collie comes up with a new way to communicate with us.
Comment by Susan Fox — September 25, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
Just great! Thanks Cheryl for a real good chuckle!!
Comment by Barbara A. Albright — September 26, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
The Tibet people believe that all living beings have souls.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 27, 2008 @ 5:52 am
Well, if we look at this scientifically… if animals can’t go to heaven, then we can’t either, since we happen to be animals as well…
Comment by snickdog — September 27, 2008 @ 2:06 pm