Blessings of health, healing, life bestowed on pets

Among the animals that received blessings Saturday morning in front of the Unity of Delray Beach Church was an African gray parrot that had been neglected, a dog that had wandered the streets emaciated, and a kitten that had been stuck inside a wall for two days.

“After about 10 minutes of talking and cutting, we finally took the wall down and found this little, itty-bitty kitten that could fit in my hand,” said Jeremiah Tomasini, a firefighter with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Fire-Rescue Department in Deerfield Beach, who helped rescue the kitten several months ago.

Tomasini took a couple of pictures on his cellphone and sent them to his wife Stephanie — and she fell in love. Tomasini brought the cat home and “Wally” has become a part of the family.

October is the Blessing of the Animals Month. The church has been giving blessings for about two decades, and in previous years people have shown up with pythons, bearded dragons, horses, albino opossums, raccoons, turtles and other animals, said Laurie Durgan, associate minister.

There was also a remembrance table for pets that have died. A photograph of Durgan’s own dog, Buck, was among the many photographs covering a table.

On Saturday, Durgan sat with dozens of tail-wagging dogs, embraced them and delivered a quiet prayer while stroking their fur.

Murphy, a mixed-breed medium-sized dog, was a little hesitant because of the crowd, and at first backed away. He had lived on the streets of Miami for a long time before Bernadette Wright, of Boynton Beach, adopted him.

On their first day together, Murphy dug a hole under the fence and returned to the streets, sparking a neighborhood search by Wright and neighbors. But Murphy returned hours later.

Now Murphy is going through a program to become a therapy dog.

“He’s come a long way and I’m so proud of him,” Wright said.

Most of the animals that were brought to the event were dogs, but there was a parrot named Paco, who loves fried potatoes and edamame.

“Very intelligent and perceptive and likes people,” said Josie Willis of Delray Beach, holding Paco on her arm.

Paco had developed a nasty habit of repeating curse words that were apparently uttered by her previous owner, but she rarely says those anymore.

“Now she uses my language,” Willis said.