Creation of people

Question from Philip on 3/21/2008:

Dear father,

Reading a previous post on the general forum someone asked if there were other people outside the Garden when Adam and Eve were kicked out. The response was "no" since Adam and Eve were the only people. Is this accurate? I read the Bible and it tells us God made man in His image and that he made then male and female and to go out and multiply. The creation of Adam doesn't happen to later on it seems. I've been told since Jesus would be descended from Adam that Adam was the "important" one....the rest of mankind weren't allowed in the garden...and Adam and Eve became the focus of history. What really happened?

Answer by Fr. John Echert on 3/21/2008:
The Church--and Scripture--teach that we are all descended of Adam, and so it must follow that there were not other strains of human beings who were not descended of Adam and Eve. So any creatures outside the Garden in the original order of creation were NOT human beings.

God bless,

Father Echert