Blessing of the Animals

Trinity Lime Rock holds an annual Blessing of the Animals on the Sunday in October closest to the Feast of St. Francis and has done so for more than a decade now.  In 2011, we will hold our blessing of the animals at the 10:30 AM Holy Eucharist on Sunday, October 2.   Here's the poster for the 2011 Blessing!

We were the first church in our area to conduct a blessing of our companion animals and those of our visitors, and we're still a little unusual in the way we conduct this.  In keeping with the life of St. Francis, we enthusiastically welcome the animals -- at least the ones that are small enough to be easily managed -- right into the Holy Eucharist with us.  (Large animals, such as  horses, are blessed in Trinity Field.)

Every year we wait for an animal to seriously misbehave.  It's yet to happen.  Aside from an occasional bark or meow, we find that our animal friends seem to feel welcome at Trinity.

Below are some photos of the Blessing of the Animals at Trinity Lime Rock (2007) -- but, in addition to photos of the 2009 blessing, and photos of the 2008 blessing,  you can see Blessings from previous years.  CLICK HERE to see a whole page of photos from the 2010 Blessing.  Want more? Just go to the page called 2001 Blessing of the Animals and follow the links from there for pictures between then and now.

Alto with dog	An eager pet	We're here!	Hounds
Vicar and bass -- and dog	Calmer now...	More arrivals	Taking the dogs into church
A scene in the parking lot	Getting acquainted	At coffee hour	It's over!