It could be a bit wild at St. Barnabas Church this weekend – and that’s a good thing.
St. Barnabas Church is having its annual pet blessing in honour of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 2 p.m.
“We are blessing all the animals we can get our hands on,” said Rev. Emilie Smith. “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. We are all in this together; they help us, we help them.”
Most of the animals that have attended in the past have been dogs, but lots of cats have also been blessed. Dogs must be on leashes and cats must be in carriers.
“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.”
St. Barnabas invites community members to bring their animals to Saturday’s blessing.
“It’s always a bit of a zoo but that’s what it is all about,” she said. “It’s a lot of good fun.”
