Local church blesses animals, raises awareness for pet adoptions

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- A local church hosts an animal blessing ceremony to pray for pets and raise awareness for animals in shelters.

Members of the community showed up to St. James Episcopal Church for the blessing by Priest Associate Kathryn Clausen. The Priest and crowd joined together reading scripture over the pets before the animals were sprinkled with holy water. Priest Clausen says the tradition goes back in time honoring a beloved Saint.

“Every year at this time there’s an ancient tradition that St. Francis of Assisi was a lover of animals and nature and it kind of became a custom for many churches to use this opportunity to bless the animals. It raises awareness of how important they are to us and to our families. It helps to teach children to be kind to animals and to appreciate them.”

The ceremony is also to help raise awareness for animals in shelters and to help find homes for them. The Animal Shelter Society brought one special dog from their facility to receive a blessing and hopefully find a new home.

“This is Sox. Sox is a two-year-old male,” said Nancy Geiger, a volunteer and board member at the Animal Shelter Society. “He’s listed as a border collie mix. He’s mixed obviously with a smaller dog, but he is wonderful. He was a stray so somebody just brought him in.”

The animal shelter says Sox appears to be friendly with other dogs and cats. They believe that he would do well with a family that can give him a lot of attention whether that be a single person or a family with kids. If you are interested in giving Sox a home, you should contact the Animal Shelter Society at 740-452-1077.