Scottish Catholic Observer

Some 40 dogs, two cats and two hamsters attended St Patrick’s Church with their owners to be blessed by parish priest Fr Krzysztof Garwolinski on Sunday October 6, two days after the feast of St Francis, the patron saint of animals.

The annual service is now in its fourth year, and Fr Garwolinski explained it has grown each year from the blessing of a handful of pups to over 40 treasured pets.

With the weather on side this year, the parish decided to host the blessings outside in the church garden in front of the chapel house, next to the statues of Our Lady, St Patrick and St John Paul II.

Importance of pets

Fr Garwolinski said: “I had the idea a few years ago because I think the blessing of pets is very popular in America. I spoke to some of my friends there and they said that the people really love it!

“There were many people this year. After some short prayers I blessed every pet individually, and some people gave me great feedback.

“One lady said she was so lonely but when she got her dog it helped her through the struggle of loneliness.

“She was very grateful, as were the many children who came to the service.”

Christianising

He added: “It was also a great opportunity for the dog lovers to meet each other and see each others’ dogs!

“It’s always been in my mind that we should Christianise every area of our lives.

“We bless our cars because we spend so much time in them, but our pets are such a big part of our lives, and people tell me often that their pets are a big part of their family.”

Fr Garwolinski also conveyed a more serious message to the parishioners amid the current climate crisis.

St Francis

St Francis is also patron of ecology, and Fr Garwolinski spoke of the importance of protecting the environment during the service.

He said: “I thought that while we should recognise the importance of pets, we must also show our respect to the environment.

“We have so many concerns about the environment so we need to highlight the importance of our ecology, and that’s something I tried to explain.

“I tried to focus on St Francis and the importance of looking after the environment, and said we should take care of it as well as our pets.”