Q. Two priests on EWTN said that we will not be reunited with our loved ones in Heaven. Is this actually what the Church teaches? – B.L.F., Iowa

A. No, it is not what the Church teaches, and are you sure this is what the two priests really said? EWTN is a very reliable source of Catholic teaching, and we can’t imagine any guests on the network saying something that is contrary to what the Church believes.

In any case, the Catechism hints at reunion with loved ones when it describes Heaven as the “communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed” (n. 1024). And Fr. John Hardon, in his Catholic Catechism, says the following about what he calls the “social joys of heaven”:
“Tradition further amplifies this idea by suggesting the joys of the blessed when they meet and recognize one another, not only in the intuitive vision of God but also by direct mutual intercourse. To deny such communication would be to deny them the legitimate exercise of their faculties and contradict the very concept of beatitude, which is the perfection of every human power and satisfaction of every legitimate desire.

“Since Christianity differs from such oriental religions as Hinduism and Buddhism precisely in believing that man retains his identity in a future life, it is essential to the Christian notion of heaven that its inhabitants live together as distinct persons, knowing and being known by their fellow citizens in the New Jerusalem, and living in the company of those they had known and loved on earth” (p. 266).

In his compendium of Catholic teaching, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Dr. Ludwig Ott echoes Fr. Hardon:
“In addition to the essential bliss of Heaven which springs from the immediate vision of God, there is also an accidental blessedness which proceeds from the natural knowledge and love of created things. An accidental bliss is achieved by the blessed in virtue of the community of life with Christ in His human form, with the Mother of God, and with the angels and saints; in virtue of their reunification with families and former friends from their earthly life; in virtue of their knowledge of God’s works. Further, the unification of the soul with the transfigured body at the Resurrection means an accidental increase of the glory granted to the blessed in Heaven” (p. 478).

It may have been Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said that there will be three surprises in Heaven. The first surprise will be the people there whom we did not expect to be there. The second surprise will be the people whom we expected to be there, but who are not there. And the third surprise will be that we are there!