Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community
I’ve already seen the signs: “Blessing of the Animals—This Sunday”. In honor of St. Francis—who preached to chickadees, tamed a wolf terrorizing a town, and welcomed chipmunks onto his shoulders—many churches will be offering animal blessings this Sunday. They will invite dogs, cats, gerbils, lizard, cockatoos, and more, into their sanctuaries—or at least into their…
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins begins his poem “Another Reason Why I don’t Keep a Gun in the House” with this line: “The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.” One night last week it was my dog Wrigley who wouldn’t stop barking—or howling, rather—at every noise he heard: the neighbors’ car door, the train…