It got a bit wild at St. Barnabas Church this weekend – and that’s a good thing.
St. Barnabas Church had its annual pet blessing in honour of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“It was marvellous,” said Rev. Emilie Smith. “It was so much fun. The church turned into a zoo for the afternoon.”
Smith blessed nine dogs, one cat and 14 people at the event. She also said a blessing for animals who have already passed away.
“The dogs were so well behaved right till the end,” she said. “One dog couldn’t bear the fact there was a cat there.”
While he was blessed, the pup wasn’t able to stay and be part of the group photo.
“All animals are already blessed – it’s not that they need to be blessed, it’s more that we share this time of blessing just to bring to our minds that we share this planet with these beautiful creatures,” Smith said. “We are all in this together; they help us, we help them.”
While dogs dominated at Saturday’s animal blessing, Smith has blessed some different creatures in the past.
“I had a duck and a fish. How do you bless a fish that’s in water? We sprinkled it with water,” she said. “It was really fun. The duck was in a gym bag. I didn’t know what it was until they opened up the gym bag. It was really hilarious."
