St. Luke’s Episcopal Church hosts annual ceremony to celebrate
pets
Rev. Amy Zuniga found herself surrounded by a hodgepodge of
God’s creatures at the annual Blessing of the Animals at St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church in Hollister on Oct. 3.
”
For about 10 years we’ve been doing it,
”
Zuniga said.
”
Everybody loves their pets and this church is full of people who
really love their animals.
”
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church hosts annual ceremony to celebrate pets
Rev. Amy Zuniga found herself surrounded by a hodgepodge of God’s creatures at the annual Blessing of the Animals at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hollister on Oct. 3.
“For about 10 years we’ve been doing it,” Zuniga said. “Everybody loves their pets and this church is full of people who really love their animals.”
The annual event coincides with St. Francis of Assisi Day, which was Oct. 4.
“St. Francis was known for his connection with creation and with animals,” Zuniga said.
The Sunday morning ceremony replaced the principal mass of the day with an outdoor service in the backyard of the Monterey Street church to which people brought 55 pets. The pets included cats, dogs, snakes, guinea pigs and birds.
“It’s a special chance to worship in the beauty of creation and give thanks to God,” Zuniga said. “It’s just a really brief service with some scripture readings and a homily.”
She did a prayer and gave a general blessing with holy water to all the animals, before their owners brought them up one by one for an individual blessing. Visitors brought dogs on leashes and other pets in cages, but took them out for the blessing.
“I really just love interacting with the animals and seeing people’s joy as they bring them,” she said. “It’s pretty chaotic, but I call it holy chaos.”
