Hark, Hark! The Dogs Do Bark. Saluting “the goodness of God’s creation” was the genesis of Sunday’s pet blessing service at the Nelson Cathedral.
While the usual hushed sanctuary of the place of worship was briefly interrupted by the eclectic crossbreed’s mischievous behaviour, cathedral dean Very Reverend Dr Graham O’Brien says pets are “a blessing from God” which Christians are called to nurture as an extension of God’s command to care for all His creation.
“In the church calendar, this is kind of the season where we celebrate creation and the goodness of God’s creation, and we’ve always thought it’s been nice here to have a pet blessing service, because people often don’t realise they can bring their pets into church,” Graham says.
“I think [the pets] enjoy coming into church, and they seem to enjoy hanging out together. When we have a bit of silence in the church, we find that actually all the animals silence down as well, mostly.”
Reporter Gordon Preece was there to capture the service:
