I have just posted a page of “Prayers for the Burial of a Pet” (under “Other Stuff” link above and in the side bar) which some may be interested in. If you have small children and pets (contrary to popular thinking, in the Church you sometimes have to work with both!) in the family, you might like to bookmark this for future reference as the furry purries and the hairy scarries have a tendancy to die on a reasonably regular basis causing moments of grief that need some sort of pastoral reaction.
I was reflecting a little more on our experience last Saturday. There was a wonderful moment in the Animal Hospital, just after we had said farewell to Twitchy and while we were waiting for them to come back to us with his body. We were sitting in a consultation room on our own, and I said: “We thank God for all the lovely times we had with Ratty”. I said this casually, but my daughters picked up the cue and began a short moment of offering their own prayers. It really helped with the grief and tension they were experiencing.
We went to the Pet Shop on Monday morning to find that they had just received a new litter of baby rats, and now we have two new pet rats, Minerva and Tiffany. They are somewhat more lively than old Twitchy was, and you have to watch them closely or they will scamper off into some small corner…
Seven pets now…a cat, a dog, a rabbit, two guinea pigs and TWO rats. But all is happiness and light once again in Casa Schütz-Beaton.
How do you keep the cat from going for the rats?
It’s all to do with territory and rosters!
Very wrong I know, but this reminds me of that ultimate Christmas roast, the turducken: a whole chicken stuffed inside a whole duck stuffed inside a whole turkey!
Isn’t there a nursery rhyme about an old woman who swallowed a fly?
Very wrong I know, but this reminds me of that ultimate Christmas roast, the turducken: a whole chicken stuffed inside a whole duck stuffed inside a whole turkey!
Isn’t there a nursery rhyme about an old woman who swallowed a fly?
;-)
Seven pets now…a cat, a dog, a rabbit, two guinea pigs and TWO rats.
Sounds like a fine arrangement to me :)
Christine
Seriously, though, the sentiments and prayers which can quite appropriately accompany the burial of a pet now characterize the majority of Catholic funeral ‘liturgies’, which is a cause for concern.
A rather wry observation, John! I would see the distiction differently. You will note that in the prayers I recommend, while there is a reference to the “new creation”, contain no reference to the deceased hairy scary or furry purry being “in heaven”. This is, of course, where many modern funerals explicitly claim the deceased is located…