A reader writes:

I’ve hit on something that I really can’t believe that is Catholic dogma, see link from Catholic answers. This sounds like Mormon heaven not Christian. Can you comment on this? For me it is very upsetting.

Yes, it is Catholic teaching. I’m not sure what you mean by it sounding Mormon, nor why it is upsetting for you, so I’m not sure I can scratch where you itch. The biblical passage mentioned in the link give the NT reflection of the notion, but you can see it worked out in, for instance, the poetry of Dante, with it’s pictures of the various kinds of beatitude as he moves through the heavenly spheres.

That’s not to say, of course, that the Church believes in heavens that are related to the orbits of the planets, but simply to say that Dante’s imagery of different sorts of beatitude is part of the Catholic tradition.

Perhaps it is the word “merit” that is the difficulty? It doesn’t mean “People who work super duper hard get more access codes to God while the cheapos only get nosebleed seats.” It means that each person in heaven will be as full of God as they are capable of being. All will be in ecstasy, but each in his own particular ecstasy. None will envy any other, nor will any look down on his fellow, for all will be in union in the love of God.

It’s basically Paul’s theology of the body carried into eternity: each member of the body needs and loves the other and is grateful for the place each has in that body. Questions of “equal rights” will make no sense in heaven because all will be there by grace, not by rights. Equal rights are necessary in this world because of the depradations of the strong upon the weak. But in that world, such considerations will no longer be necessary because the strong will use their strength on behalf of the grateful weak and the weak will use what gifts they have on behalf of the grateful strong. And the gratitude will all be given to God.

Equality is medicine, not food. It is necessary in this sick world. But it is not, nor was it ever, intended to be an ultimate good. Our culture has divinized equality. But a Day will come when it will no longer be necessary to worry about such things because the greed and pride of original sin will no longer be an issue. In heaven, nobody will bother about it. They will be too busy admiring the multi-faceted glories of God displaye in his wildly crazy diversity of saints.