The Blessing of the Animals

The Blessing of the Animals 2009

On Sunday, October 4, 2009, we commemorated Saint Francis of Assisi with our second annual service of the Blessing of the Animals. About a hundred twenty humans (a 50% increase over last year), both regular members of the congregation and neighbours of the church, came with their wonderful creatures great and small. Although we were mostly dogs—ranging from small toys to Golden Retrievers and Bull Terriers—we were blessed with the presence of a almost ten of cats (up 600% from ’08—we have no idea what we did!), a gold fish, a hampster, and some compost worms (descendants of the ones we blessed in 2008). Everyone, including the humans, behaved wonderfully! We hope you will join us at next year’s Blessing on Sunday, October 3, 2010, at 4 p.m., if not before.

Here are some wonderful photos of the service and of our friends:

Here are close-ups of some of our animal friends:

Photos by Ravi Rajan

See photos from 2008’s liturgy here.

Andy, the Rector’s dog, workes hard every year to invite our friends and neighbours. He is our poster dog ...

and he visits all the neighbourhood hang outs talking-up the service ...

In the Church on Sunday, October 3, 2010, at 4 P.M.. we will celebrate our third annual service of the Blessing of the Animals in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. This liturgy is an expression of God’s love for all Creation and of his call to us to care for it.

We hope that you will bring any and all creatures who share their lives with you. Dogs and cats, birds and reptiles, fish and hamsters, and all the ones too numerous to name are all welcome.

Carl Weidemeyer-Worpswede, Saint Francis instructs the Wolf, woodcut, 1911.