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Episcopal Church USA National Seal The Blessing of the Animals
October 4th 2009
 
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Mystic, Connecticut 		View of St. Mark's Church coming from Main Street

We celebrate the annual Blessing of the Animals on the Sunday closest to the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi.

This year we celebrated on October 4th, the actual Feast Day of St. Francis.

St. Francis watches over the Blessing of the Animals

Between the church building and the parking lot is a small garden. In the garden are bird feeders, a birdbath, trellises, and a small statue of Saint Francis with one of his feathered friends.

People who care for companion animals are sometimes called "Pet parents", and several of us have "granddogs" as well as grandkids. People can become pet parents at any age.

The Blessing of the Animals is a family-friendly event. After all, pets are part of the family, too. At St. Mark's we consider stuffer animals eligible for blessing, too!

In 2009 we were fortunate to have Fr. Warren Ernest bless the animals because Fr. Mark was away.

Special thanks to Bob Welt for these fine photographs!

How about scratching my ears? OK, I'm ready! Thanks, that feels good. Can't I just stay with you, Mom? Blessing of the Animals 2009 Tigers and bears, oh my! (Where's the lion?) Some water would be nice about now.... Blessing of the Animals 2009 Ah! There's the lion! There were some crabs present, but nobody complained. 'I'm not sure about those crabs' and 'I'll never forget this.' Some creatures didn't come out of their shells. Watchful waiting I'm still not sure about those crabs....

After all creatures great and small were blessed, we had an inter-species snack time.

There were all kinds of goodies for humans and non-humans. A reward for being patient

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15 Pearl Street
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 572-9549 		Version 1.0 F
8 October 2009