Priest's dog at mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter LighthouseRon
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LighthouseRon

Guest
For a time a while back my wife and I attended mass at a different parish than our usual one. The priest there would occasionally bring his dog to mass. The dog would accompany him up the aisle toward the alter at the beginning of mass and lay down next to where the priest sits. The dog would remain there quietly (didn’t even scratch or lick anything) until the end of mass when he would accompany the priest back down the aisle again. I’ve never saw that before and don’t know how the church would feel about it.

I must say I’ve never saw a priest so loved by the parish as this man. He has a way of bringing conservative catholic teaching into today’s society without compromising it. He is an extremely good communicator both with adults and children. He is truly a gift. Any thoughts?
 
I’m a great dog lover and my opinion is colored by that fact. The number of saints who have a dog association (St. Roq, St. John Bosco, St. John of God, eg) plus the preaching of St. Francis to the animals makes me believe there is nothing wrong with this. If the dog had been a distraction I would feel differently.
 
I too, know of a priest who used to take his dog everywhere, even inside the church and would let it roam about the altar. This is wrong, but at least he would tie up the dog outside during Mass. My wife called the bishop’s office and the priest she talked to said it was wrong to bring the dog on the altar. I don’t know if he was ever admonished.

I don’t see any way to defend the action of the priest you mention. A dog on the altar, even if he is motionless, is a distraction and detracts from the focus on God and serves to undermine the sacredness of the Mass. The fact that you noticed he didn’t lick or scratch means that you were understandably distracted to some degree. I love dogs, and I think they can make great companions for lonely priests, but I am certain that St. Francis et al. would not approve of dogs on the altar. :tsktsk:
 
Could this be a service dog? They do much more than lead the blind - but dogs serve people with many disabilities…
 
I’d have a very hard time calling this wrong as there are churches in Hawaii that birds come and go as they please as the buildings have open roofs. Also, Jesus was born in a stall with farm animals.
 
Hmm…

Well, a dog just being “in the church” might be okay…if it was just sitting quietly…

But I don’t know if it should be brought into the SANCTUARY…

In some Eastern Churches (catholic or orthodox), no animal products at all are allowed into the sanctuary…so they change from leather shoes to linen ones or something…I’m actually not sure how they classify silk…
 
Okay… This is probably a stupid question, but before money became popular at collection people used to bring food and and farm animals. What did they do with the farm animals during mass?
 
Yeah, I have two cats. Boy, they just can’t live without me unless they go to mass.
 
It would be best to give the priest the benefit of the doubt, and assume this was a service dog assisting him with some disability.
 
Sorry for the lack of detail in this post, but I can’t remember all of the exact details.
I found out that one priest I know could ride a horse into church if he chose to. He hasn’t done that, but he was made a member of this group of knights (sorry, can’t remember which group, but I know it’s not the Knights of Columbus and it is a religious rather than a secular knighthood), and one of the rules concerning the knights was that they could ride their horses into church.
An interesting thought…
 
Do not believe it is right. Should not have a dog in the Sanctuary taking attention away from the Mass, unless the priest is blind or has some handicap needing the dog…
 
Unless the priest is blind, or some other medical reason, I can’t see any reason to bring a dog up during Mass. It cannot be pleasing to Our Lord. It seems a bit disrespecful.

Once a year in celebration to St. Francis, we have Blessing of the Animals but this is done outdoors. People bring all sorts of animals to be blessed including goats, birds, and horses. The Bishop Blesses each animal with Holy Water. It is a big, popular event.🙂
 
I have attended a parish that is not mine that had an early Sat. Mass and that priest also had a dog that wandered in with him periodically. He was a very good priest and I never gave it much thought. It was a city parish and I thought perhaps he had it for protection.
 
Had a priest, Monsignor Earl, who announced to the congregation that he was being transferred to a new parish under construction, formerly a mission parish, where he would have to oversee building a rectory and other structures.

He said he was packing, and was taking Candles with him, too.

After the mass, one parishioner approached him in horror. The altar candles and candle holders were special to THIS church. Yes, Monsignor would need to gather a lot of everything to build the new parish. But how could he even consider taking the candles???

Monsignor Earl reassured her. The “Candles” HE was taking had four paws and barked.
 
we had mass in a makeshift chapel by the puget sund thsi week while i was on retreat (forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=62819 ) and one preist had a dog (and teh camp had a camp dog too) that kept wandering around. It was kinda fun and rustic, but definatly i wouldnt stand a nice church being traped in by a dog unless it was a service dog.
 
One day after mass as I was leaving church I saw a cat walk right into the church. One of the parishinors noticed me watching the cat and he said “That’s Father’s cat. He’s got two but only one goes to church. The other one’s not a Mick.”

It was hilarious to say the least!
 
40.png
Kyenta:
Unless the priest is blind, or some other medical reason, I can’t see any reason to bring a dog up during Mass. It cannot be pleasing to Our Lord. It seems a bit disrespecful.

Once a year in celebration to St. Francis, we have Blessing of the Animals but this is done outdoors. People bring all sorts of animals to be blessed including goats, birds, and horses. The Bishop Blesses each animal with Holy Water. It is a big, popular event.🙂
Click to expand...
Since when doesn’t Jesus like animals?? Next thing you know, someone will find fault with the altar servers, saying they are a distraction and displeasing to the Lord. Goodness!
~ Kathy ~
 
I recall some time back, a fellow poster put up a story about how trained dogs were sent into a church to sniff for bombs, in preparation for the pope’s arrival at the church. The dogs were also trained to find bodies under the rubble of buildings after disasters like earthquakes. The dogs immediately reacted to the “scent” of a body, and immediately ran right up to the tabernacle where the Eucharist was being reserved!

I recall this story when reading this about a dog at mass. If anything, I would believe that the dog is much more aware of the Lord’s presence on the altar than many of us human Catholics are! I also cannot help but think that the dog gets a pat on the head from our Lord, who is visible to the dog’s sight 🙂
 
Well, if the dog were a baptized and confirmed Catholic, living his life so as not to cause scandal to the faithful, and in a state of grace, then it would be fine for him to be in the sanctuary. Otherwise, I’d leave him in the sacristy. 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top