Baptism... of pets

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Roman_Catholic_1

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When I was really young my father asked to have his dog baptised/blessed. He was a k-9 officer so he felt that his partner should be baptised, I dont know. Anyways I remember it being all over the news and people being very upset about it. Saying that my father and this particular church were forcing religion on this animal.

I dont not remember, since I was so young, if it was fellow Catholics who were out raged or people of other faiths. I would just like to know if this is something that is condoned by the Catholic Church or not and if it would be something you would be upset about.

By the way the baptism of the dog was carried out, the news ran a huge smear campaign on it, it was really sad.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
When I was really young my father asked to have his dog baptised/blessed. He was a k-9 officer so he felt that his partner should be baptised, I dont know. Anyways I remember it being all over the news and people being very upset about it. Saying that my father and this particular church were forcing religion on this animal.

I dont not remember, since I was so young, if it was fellow Catholics who were out raged or people of other faiths. I would just like to know if this is something that is condoned by the Catholic Church or not and if it would be something you would be upset about.

By the way the baptism of the dog was carried out, the news ran a huge smear campaign on it, it was really sad.
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Did this happen during the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi? The reason why I ask is because it is customary to get your pets blessed during “Blessing of the Pets” on this feast-day.
 
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Tonks40:
Did this happen during the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi? The reason why I ask is because it is customary to get your pets blessed during “Blessing of the Pets” on this feast-day.
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I really dont recall, I was really young. I will ask him later, this is really something that just hit me all of the sudden and wanted to get some peoples thoughts on it. I just remember people being really really upset about it. My dad got threats at home over the phone, the news ran a campaign of the church forcing religion on pets and police officers (since the dog was a police officer) ect, ect… It was really bad.
 
They can’t get baptised because they don’t have an innortal soul, they can’t sin, had no part of original sin.

They can be blessed, like any other item.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
When I was really young my father asked to have his dog baptised/blessed.

By the way the baptism of the dog was carried out, the news ran a huge smear campaign on it, it was really sad.
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Blessing an object, animal, or person is not baptism.
 
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1ke:
Blessing an object, animal, or person is not baptism.
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I am almost positive it was a baptism. 99% sure I just put the “blessed” part in there just in case of that 1%… Since you cant do it, this must be why there was such a large out cry huh? I wonder why the Church went through with it?
 
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mjdonnelly:
They can’t get baptised because they don’t have an innortal soul, they can’t sin, had no part of original sin.

They can be blessed, like any other item.
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True, but I wouldn’t call animals items.
They’re far more unique and special than a rock, which is an item 😃
 
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Roman_Catholic:
I am almost positive it was a baptism. 99% sure I just put the “blessed” part in there just in case of that 1%… Since you cant do it, this must be why there was such a large out cry huh? I wonder why the Church went through with it?
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Your question was whether the church condones the practice and our answer to you is: no it is not possible to baptize an animal.

The burden of proof is on you to prove this ever took place. Provide details. What priest or person did this supposed-baptism? Where was it done? What date? Where are the newspaper clippings?

“The Church” does not baptize animals, therefore “the Church” did not “go through with” anything.

An individual (misguided) person could have attempted to baptize an animal, but a real baptism never took place since an animal cannot be baptized.

It is possible to bless an animal, and that is done (not only by Catholics but by other denominations too) on the Feast of St. Francis. This is not a baptism.
 
Alright I talked to my dad.

He said the reason why I remember it being a baptism is because that is what the media had said it was. It was in fact a blessing of the animal, but the news took it as a baptism, which is why I remember it being a baptism because all I remember was the news reports on the subject. (this was over 20 years ago)

He said it was Catholics and non Catholics alike who were upset with it (since they thought it was a baptism because of the news)

He said Catholics were upset because they thought it was a baptism - which judging from the responses here makes sense. But others (non-catholics) were upset that he was forcing religion on this dog.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
Alright I talked to my dad.

He said the reason why I remember it being a baptism is because that is what the media had said it was. It was in fact a blessing of the animal, but the news took it as a baptism, which is why I remember it being a baptism because all I remember was the news reports on the subject. (this was over 20 years ago)

He said it was Catholics and non Catholics alike who were upset with it (since they thought it was a baptism because of the news)

He said Catholics were upset because they thought it was a baptism - which judging from the responses here makes sense. But others (non-catholics) were upset that he was forcing religion on this dog.
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I can’t help but laugh at this idea of “forcing a religion on an animal” it just remainds me that people have way too much time on their hands.
 
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mosher:
I can’t help but laugh at this idea of “forcing a religion on an animal” it just remainds me that people have way too much time on their hands.
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Good thing he wasn’t jewish and wanted a brisk 😃 :bigyikes:
 
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Roman_Catholic:
Alright I talked to my dad.

He said the reason why I remember it being a baptism is because that is what the media had said it was. It was in fact a blessing of the animal, but the news took it as a baptism, which is why I remember it being a baptism because all I remember was the news reports on the subject. (this was over 20 years ago)

He said it was Catholics and non Catholics alike who were upset with it (since they thought it was a baptism because of the news)

He said Catholics were upset because they thought it was a baptism - which judging from the responses here makes sense. But others (non-catholics) were upset that he was forcing religion on this dog.
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Interesting. So, this was all blown out of proportion by the media. I bet they didn’t give equal time for the truth to be explained.
 
There used to be an old joke about a priest and a man who brought his pet to church to be buried.

He asked the kindly priest to do his dog’s funeral,but the priest refused saying that the church does not do funerals for animals.
But the man persisted and then said, but the dog has promised to give the church $25,000.

The priest immediately said: Why didn’t you tell me the dog was Catholic?
 
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stbruno:
There used to be an old joke about a priest and a man who brought his pet to church to be buried.

He asked the kindly priest to do his dog’s funeral,but the priest refused saying that the church does not do funerals for animals.
But the man persisted and then said, but the dog has promised to give the church $25,000.

The priest immediately said: Why didn’t you tell me the dog was Catholic?
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Good one! Thanks for the humor.
 
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mosher:
I can’t help but laugh at this idea of “forcing a religion on an animal” it just remainds me that people have way too much time on their hands.
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Mostly they are the kind of people whose heads would rattle if they had at least half a brain. On a serious note, one of the K-9 dogs in St. Paul, MN was killed by a escaping criminal while basically saving his handlers life. The dog was given a complete secular funeral with bag pipes and the whole bit. Even the Mayor of St. Paul was there along with the Chief of Police. My son is a K-9 officer and I attended with him. There were a lot of eyes that were not dry. These man/dog teams are very close. The dog lives in their home with them and become a part of the family.
 
I noticed that Roman_Catholic is in Seattle. I grew up in Seattle during the Hunthausen years, and believe me, there was a lot of weeeiiiiirrrrddddd things going on back then. I wouldn’t put it past anyone to have tried an actual baptism on a dog.

But as it has been pointed out, it was a blessing, not a baptism.
 
These man/dog teams are very close. The dog lives in their home with them and become a part of the family. [/QUOTE said:
So true. My dad’s dog “partner” got feed better then I did :mad:
I still remember when we got the dog. He came straight from Germany and spoke (understood) both Germen and English. Its weird to think of a dog as being bilingual :eek:

Very cool dog and he was considered apart of the family.
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rwoehmke:
These man/dog teams are very close. The dog lives in their home with them and become a part of the family.
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AW . . . That’s beautiful. A friend of mine is a retired policewoman and had been a K-9 officer. Her dog retired before she did, and “Zack” spent the rest of his long life as a cherished pet in her home.
 
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