The Lead

General Convention approved new rites and prayers for the care of beloved animals Thursday.

Resolution A054 recommends the liturgies be made available “for use in a variety of settings to provide pastorally for people caring for animals,” and the committee revised the format to make it easier for worshipers to use at home.

ENS:

Rites for times of transition – when a companion animal dies or retires – will be especially helpful, said Darla Schumm of Roanoke, Virginia, who is visually impaired and attended General Convention as a visitor with her guide dog Chloe. Her dog attends church with her, and “it is a loss for the whole community when a companion animal dies or is retired.”
During debate in the House of Bishops, Mississippi Bishop Duncan Gray asked why there was a call to authorize such rites.

“There has been a steady, dare I say, unrelenting call for rites like these,” said Bishop George Wayne Smith of Missouri, chair of the legislative committee.

“I’m a convert about this stuff,” said Bishop Jeffrey Lee of Chicago, another committee member. “Part of the reason for providing something is because of … the wide range of materials that were presented to us in use out there, and we wanted to something that was responsible.”

The bishops changed the resolution’s wording to make the materials available rather than to “authorize” them.

“That seemed like a friendly amendment to me and will be well received by the animals of the Episcopal Church,” said the Rev. Lowell Grisham of Arkansas, deputy committee chair.

The bishops’ debate had some lighthearted moments, with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a former oceanographer, commenting, “I’m glad to see the whales made it in,” and Bishop C. Franklin Brookhart Jr. of Montana telling the house, “No one loves his dog more than I.”

Comments (8)

I don't say this to boost his sales, but the work on the death of a pet by the Franciscan, Jack Wintz O.F.M., is very popular,

http://www.paracletepress.com/jack-wintz-a.html

Paraclete Press is primarily but not exclusively Catholic.

The other day pets were in the news -- new born children with pets in the house grow up healthier. Evidently pets bring in a healthy amount of germs into the house. My mother-in-law always said a child needed dirt in their diet.

Long live our furry friends.

Posted by John B. Chilton | July 13, 2012 1:29 PM

Does this include the lamentable (IMHO) litany that prayed for God to have mercy on viruses, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes?

Posted by Bill Dilworth | July 13, 2012 2:10 PM

Only those who have never been adored by a dog would question the need for such a rite, I believe I know a goodly number of converts to this position, once they have been blessed with animal companons themselves.....

Posted by Leslie Scoopmire | July 13, 2012 10:22 PM

Prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and viruses have been sent back to committee for another triennium! For myself, I must say that I hope they never again emerge from there, even if the liturgies themselves make a reappearance in a different form....

Posted by Elizabeth Anderson | July 14, 2012 9:30 AM

I am happy to see this as my dog is 14 yrs. old and showing her age. It is hard to see her declining (she can no longer jump up on my bed--the look on her face the first time that happened was heartbreaking). She has caught a burgler in the act and makes me feel safer when I travel. I know some day we'll be separated and I will mourn her greatly.

Posted by Lindapriest | July 14, 2012 4:21 PM

FYI, "bed-steps", Linda: made for just this purpose. Pet your friend for me. Good girl. :-)

JC Fisher

Posted by tgflux | July 14, 2012 5:26 PM

Anyone new to this topic might want to consider the work of the Rev. Andrew Linzey, an Anglican priest and internationally known theologian working in the area of Christianity and animals. He was a member of the faculty of theology at Oxford and has written or edited more than twenty books.

Posted by Ccolef | July 15, 2012 9:10 AM

Come to think of it, people might also be interested in the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals (ASWA). http://www.aswa.org.uk/

Posted by Bill Dilworth | July 15, 2012 1:26 PM

Add your comments

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Reminder: At Episcopal Café, we hope to establish an ethic of transparency by requiring all contributors and commentators to make submissions under their real names. For more details see our Feedback Policy.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

CATEGORIES

Organizations