An Anglican cathedral held a memorial service for a cat during the pandemic. What do you think?

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In my opinion it should be reserved at least on St Francis’s feast day 🙂 Heaven knows there are enough other things to pray for and very little time to do it in.
 
Greenfields said:
Heaven knows there are enough other things to pray for and very little time to do it in.
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This doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s not like praying for Intention A somehow takes away from the prayers for Intention B; people are always free to pray for whatever intention they like, any time, and we can pray for multiple intentions at once.

Also, the cat’s service did not pre-empt anything else going on at the church. It’s likely that if they had not had the service for the cat, they wouldn’t have had anything else going on that day.
 
StudentMI said:
by a guy named William Cobbett
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Ah but this is the guy called William Corbett, author of Rural Rides, journalist and troublesome radical, Protestant proponent of Catholic emancipation, friend of the poor, patriotic pamphleteer, annoyer of Americans. Fascinating character.
 
tl;dr But it reminds me of the old joke:

Paddy approaches his priest and requests “oh, Father, my dog has died – Can you handle the funeral?”

Father responds “we can’t possibly do that. Take him to those nutty presbyterians”

“Well, if you say so Father – by the way, do you think $500 is enough for the stipend?”

“JESUSMARYandJOSEPH!! Why didn’t you tell me the poor departed doggo was Catholic!?”
 
“Cat’s service” is a descriptive phrase I used. I have already explained the service is not a funeral for the cat. It seems like you are trying to take a phrase I used and treat it like something it isn’t, which to me isn’t very nice, but I will say no more on it either.
 
If it was a thanksgiving service (which it seemed to be…) nice. We must give thanks to God for the good things He created and gave us.

If it was a funeral for the animal, it would’ve been a complete abomination.

If it was a prayer for pet owners, it’s good, although I think in that case they should ask God for detachment from animals.

If there was some confusion, it’s bad.
 
From the article I read, I’m not sure whether there was confusion or not. I concur with you and err on the side of thinking that it’s easy and funny for a journalist to write about it as a cat funeral. But I also trust that the religious authorities in charge are well formed, and know what can be done or not.

I’m a string proponent of thanksgiving. We must thank the Lord for many good things. And that includes animals. On a personal note, I don’t like pets (and unfortunately have encountered many rude owners who didn’t respect that), but I love plants and love listening to birds. How would I dare not to thank the Lord for that??
 
There is always the Akathist of Thanksgiving…

But I do not know if the Anglicans do Akathists…


This is one of the most poignant and beautiful Akathists…

Composed by a Saint who then died in a labor camp…

geo
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I have already explained the service is not a funeral for the cat.
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That is a part of the ambiguity of the event, because the Church Service is the Service of Thanksgiving FOR the cat - eg It ecclesiastically HONORS the cat… I remember when Hammi the Cat died at an Orthodox monastery - He greeted all who came to the Monastery, had arrived shortly after the monks first arrived to found the Monastery, and was obviously a gift from God to them, and he lived another 18 years… They blogged his passing, wept for their friend, and buried him in a beautiful place that he loved, and thanked God for him… They posted a lot of pictures of him, but their Katholokon held no Service for him… He was a great cat, a Norwegian Forest Cat, hypo-allergenic, for the two monks were allergic to cats… Beloved pets really do not belong in Church Services except generally, along with all the other gifts of creation that God provides to us, for which we give thanks…

I was wondering, as I followed this thread, if pets should be treated as persons in the Church, because the Service was a Thanksgiving Service for this one beloved pet… And that would open Pandora’s box of evils, I should think, because we place so much of our solace in them when human solace fails, and they, instead of God, then often become our repository of solace… The Ekklesia of God is not on this earth for the commemoration and remembrance of animals, but of human beings…

To my old Orthodox ears, a Church Service of any kind for a beloved pet, just sounds wrong on its face, diverting the Church from its God-appointed purpose, by making Her Services to serve humanitarian comforting in the face of loss… And here, it is especially insidious, because of the emotional succor of the injection, and its being hidden under the guise of “simple love of a pet”, and “what could possibly be so wrong about that??”

I love Tis_Bearself’s sweet heart in this discussion…

I could certainly see a priest giving a homily and speaking therein of such a pet…

Or giving an announcement after Services…

geo
 
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GEddie said:
Twitter is a plot from heqq in any case.
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I couldn’t agree more. Twitter has become the vehicle of choice for people to go for each others’ throats on anything under the sun, from presidential elections to choice in jewelry. it stokes outrage like shoveling coal into a furnace.
 
Yes, and I always like to meet new saints. Thank you. I will look him up.

I am glad the monks honored the memory of their deceased cat friend. I myself don’t see much difference between what they did and the Anglican service. I accept that other people apparently may see a difference and also that it could create confusion among the faithful to be having what looks like a “funeral” for an animal, even if it’s really not a funeral. I suspect this sort of confusion is why the Church doesn’t have such services. I can’t say as I blame them; I wouldn’t want anyone getting the idea that their dog needs prayers like a deceased person does, etc.

But at the same time I would welcome some kind of a Mass of Thanksgiving for “all creatures great and small” (animals of course, or their remains, would not be actually brought to the church but brought in our hearts) as this seems to me to be an evangelization opportunity as well as emphasizing Christian stewardship and giving animal people a chance to pray in a setting where they won’t have to suffer painful remarks like some of the ones discussed on this thread.

I am at the point where I prefer the company of animals to most humans, and while I constantly try to work on that, a priest recently reminded me there were saints who felt the same way as I do. Threads like this just tend to confirm my already jaundiced view of many humans.

I remember when I was little I had a book showing the Corporal Works of Mercy with children’s illustrations. “To Bury the Dead” had the children burying one of their little pets in a box and comforting the sad child owner. I think back on that when I feel bad about other humans’ remarks and reactions.
 
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George720 said:
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Tis_Bearself:
Which Saint was that?
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Proto-Presbyter Gregory Petrov - I do not know if the Church has named him as a Saint…

Beautiful, yes?
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Turns out Petrov did not write it, apparently, but a Metropolitan Tryphon… Petrov read from it at his trial in which he was falsely accused, after which he was shot… He is a martyr… I would like to see both canonized…

geo
 
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