Dog day at the cathedral
It was dog day at the transitional cathedral and the parishioners couldn’t have been happier.
About 30 people attended the annual Blessing of the Animals at the Anglican cathedral on Hereford St yesterday, which was also a fundraising event for the SPCA.
A small array of pets – seven dogs, two budgies, a pair of guinea pigs, and a rather aloof cat – queued with their owners and waited to be blessed.
Assistant curate Ben Randall explained the service – which celebrated St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of all animals – was about ‘‘recognising their place, that they belong to all creation’’.
‘‘It’s just a recognition of God’s blessing upon the animal but also their relationship within the family.’’
Star guest Bugsy the greyhound led his minder, Shelby Huntly, around the chapel, as owner and SPCA education manager Richard Marchant told the congregation about their love-at-first-sight story.
He said he was visiting the Riccarton market when ‘‘I felt something on my leg and I looked down to see the biggest greyhound I had ever seen’’.
‘‘By the time we left the market, we had agreed to foster greyhounds.’’
Too big to race but gentle enough to rehome, Bugsy’s two-week stay with Marchant turned into a forever friendship.
Gilbert Wealleans had a similar tale of devotion. He rescued wild tomcat Henry Tudor Windermere from under the floorboards of a rest home, rehabilitating him into ‘‘the sweetest cat you’ll ever meet’’ over several months.
‘‘I took his big sister predecessor along and had her blessed [once] but it didn’t improve her behaviour. I thought she might have had to be exorcised.’’
He said he gave
Henry Tudor Windermere and his other cat, Emily Rose, interesting names because ‘‘animals are their own creatures’’.
‘‘I like to give them proper names, or sometimes improper ones if they’re naughty.’’
‘‘It’s just a recognition of God’s blessing upon the animal but also their relationship within the family.’’
Assistant curate
Ben Randall