I was alerted by several people to the following.
In Destin, FL, the parish priest involved his dog in the Mass. Well.. here is the e-mail.
"The video [shows] one of many liturgical abuses during Sunday Mass, which also included a plug before Mass for Father’s favorite dog shampoo (As he set the bottle of shampoo on the altar while continuing to talk about it and then made some in the congregation smell it)."
You decide.
Liturgical abuse?
I guess I could understand that perhaps the priest’s dog could find its untrammeled way into church. He might want to go check out his master regardless of what he was up to.
That could be more amusing than sacrilegious. Right? I mean, we are reasonable about odd things that happen through no one’s fault.
This seems to be a bit more than that.
Here is the video. It does not include anything about the dog shampoo.
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As the old punchline goes about the old monsignor who gave the dog a Solemn Requiem High Mass: “Well, after all, it was a CATHOLIC dog!”
…This seems to be a bit more than that….
You’ve got to be kidding me!!! The priest letting his dog carry the missal during the exit procession???? Is that what I saw?????????????
How long, O LORD???
I’m sure that was a missalette or a hymnal rather than the Sacramentary or Lectionary. Still, allowing the dog to carry it in its mouth?
Embarrassing.
Unfortunately, I know this parish. I won’t give the name, but it is where I must go Mass when vacationing there. The other parish down the highway is actually worse (if you can imagine omitting the Gospel during Christmas Mass!). All the same, it seems to be an exceptionally trained dog, wonder if it barks in Latin…
Honestly, the recessional hymn was more offensive than the dog at Mass: “We are companions on a journey / Breaking bread and drinking wine.” Also, do recall the dog that followed Mr. Bogardus into the church in The Bells of St. Mary’s.
The words are “…Breaking bread and sharing life.”
This looks pretty innocent. With all of the “real” liturgical abuses, I can’t really say this is one of them.
Monsignor James Moynihan, paster at Incarnation Church in Minneapolis, had two Irish Setters. Some of the time they were seen laying quietly at the bottom of the altar while Msgr. said Mass and would leave with him, out the side exit, because in those days, the Mass was Latin.
I guess we have to pick our battles.
Same thing at a parish here, but no accident…
During the blessing of the Easter foods, Father brought the dog into church WITH him to “smell all the goodies” and then allowed him to lay in a pew and wander about the sanctuary as he wished. In really bad taste at the bare minimum, and perpetuating the 1970s carpeted church-as-living-room mentality.
Last year, I believe, a naked woman wandered off the Strip here in Vegas and into the Cathedral during Sunday morning Mass. If one must experience an oddity at Mass, better the dog than the woman! My question for both cases: where were the ushers?
Count me as one who takes offense at this. If it is what it seems, it is an exercise in self-indulgence–which I have to say, is terribly tempting for those of us priests who are extrovertive. “Putting on a performance” and showing off and mugging for laughs–nothing wrong with that in its place–but the temptation is to do it, even a little, at Mass.
Kab63 said this is preferable to a naked woman wandering into Mass. Hmm, well, I suppose it’s preferable to al Qaeda bringing anthrax, too, but so what? In any case, the poor woman, apart from not meeting the dress code, is wanted at Mass–the Mass is for the benefit of people, after all; but dogs are not wanted at Mass, even in their best attire!
I believe the priest could use some orthodox theology & practice with good human companionship to back it up. I sense loneliness.
I knew of an elderly Canon whose cat would frequently sit attentively on the sanctuary as he offered his daily Mass many, many years ago, but it did so very discreetly.
Difficult to judge this incident: it seems to me to underline the utter shambles and disrespect for the liturgy and things sacred generally, but on the other hand it could just have been an isolated bit of disorder. St Thomas Aquinas’s lines from the Lauda Sion, “non mittendus canibus” comes to mind briefly… Dogs and sanctuaries are best kept apart although in mediaeval times, with hawks and dogs and even St Hugh of Lincoln’s Swan (12th century) frequently to be found in our great cathedrals and churches, there are precedents.
Nothing odd about seeing a dog in what appears to be an airport terminal. What is odd, is seeing a priest in vestments in an airport terminal. Oh wait! That was a church??? Sure did not look like one.
This has happened at a former parish that I used to attend with the present pastor. So it is not an isolated incident.
Briangar21: “The words are “…Breaking bread and sharing life.”
Thanks for the correction. Those words are even worse!
Absolutely charming!!! I loved it. It was, after all, the end of the Mass (not like it was during the consecration or anything). Maybe you have to be a dog lover to appreciate this.
Ecce panis Angelorum,
Factus cibus viatorum,
Vere panis filiorum,
Non mittendus canibus.
How medieval of this seemingly progressive priest! I mean, really. This is such a traditional liturgical abuse and bishops have been fighting against it, particularly for religious, since the Middle Ages. Why can’t he just get with the Vatican II ‘Spirit’? [/sarcasm, but with a grain of truth]
At Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City 1968- several dogs wandering around the nave unattended. Nobody paid them the least attention. It drove me nuts, but is it actually forbidden?
The dog was probably carrying Father’s sermon notes.
“Lord, to what times hast Thou spared me, that I should endure these things?”
I am a dog lover….sadly, i prefer them to most people. However, there is no place for dogs as part of the liturgy, even if it is after the “Mass has ended”…what is the purpose here? to get all warm and fuzzy as if experiencing our Lord in the Eucharist isn’t enough? “maybe you have to be a dog lover to appreciate this” – Puuhleeeze…maybe you have to have no awareness of what the Mass is about to appreciate this. Self-indulgent is right. Having the dog in the Church is not a big deal…having him as part of the “show” is.
Though an adorable dog (and clearly happy to see his owner, if his tail wagging is anything to go by), Mass is not the place for it. And sadly, like others have said, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about priests involving their pets in the liturgy. I don’t think it has much to do with how much they love their animals, so much as how little they regard the liturgy. My priest loves his cat more than life itself, but he’d never bring her to Mass with him.
It’s crucial that we pick our battle carefully. Folks, this is not worth making ourselves look curmudgeon-like. The dog act is cute. Silly, inappropriate–but most people we know would be charmed by it. Our task is to influence these very people with gentle, subtle, and kind persuasion and example. They are GOOD Catholic people, albeit woefully misguided by a generation of aberrant clergy. Seriously, let’s stop right now and ask ourselves what little, in-obtrusive things can we start doing to change all this. When the new Mass translations are issued, objections and rejections will cause much turmoil and we have to “head it off at the pass.” These are our people and we have to help them trough it. Maybe we could compile of list of “little things” that we could start doing now.
My kids were shocked and dismayed at a recent wedding rehearsal here in suburban Chicago that we attended. The priest showed up in shorts and t-shirt with his big yellow Lab carrying a huge rawhide bone in its mouth. The dog proceeded to prance up to altar, lay down, and gnaw on the bone. We had never witnessed anything like it since we come from a very orthodox parish. It was just a prelude to the actually wedding Mass. I’m sure Fr. Bob has never heard the phrase “Say the Black;Do the Red.”
I think it is inappropriate in that it will alienate some parishioners.
I did, however, think it was hilarious when the dog lowered his head while everyone was bowing.
If this church had been built properly with railings to separate the Sanctuary from the nave the dog could not have got as far as it did.
Also, of course, there should have been some sidesmen to intercept it as soon as it entered the Church.
Priests who allow one abuse (altar girls) are quite likely to allow others. Clearly this canine is used to doing this sort of thing!
Reminds me of the time we were at Mass in the little church we attended near our summer home in the Poconos. At the end of the processional, a large collie mix meandered down the aisle behind the priest and sat down next to a man. After doing a double-take, the man, who resembled Uncle Fester on the Adams Family, karate chopped the poor critter on the neck and out it went. It took a heroic effort not to laugh during the Mass. The owner apologized profusely after Mass but the priest was apparently never aware of what transpired behind him.
There are enough distractions at Mass without inviting one but perhaps the dog in the video got loose from its quarters and simply wanted to see its master. I hope that was the case here.
My Jack Russell Terrier, Pippa (RIP) helped me restore Ad Orientem worship in this parish, and the return of the TLM as the main Sunday Mass. She was also great at Baptisms. I wish I could send you some photos. That dog won a whole load of converts to the Faith, and was at the heart of the Benedictine Reform here. She is greatly missed by the Traditional clergy. She never really liked the SSPX, but was great with African clergy.
[It seems to me that we could use some details about this.]
Again, though the Mass has ended, it has taken the reverence out of the atmosphere of the church building. We wonder why people wear shorts, jeans, chew gum, talk in church, and generally act as poorly as they do in church.(as if Jesus isn’t there) If the priest doesn’t lead them through his actions and show reverence while in the church, neither will the parishioners.
A CFR friar friend told me that when he was in Guatemala, the main concern was to keep the chickens off the altar during Mass. Dogs would wander in and out. But the chapel was an open-air building and the animals just came in with the people, I guess.
frere wilfrid: I’m sorry you lost your Jack Russell. They are great dogs. Our JRterrier “Kieran” is also a fan of Benedict XVI:<). I’m not sure he has made any converts yet, but he’s only three years old.
When I asked why the servers closed the gates at the altar rail during the consecration, I was told it was an old custom to keep out the animals.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this. In my time as an organist, I actually played at a wedding where the ring-bearer was a dog. He too was well-behaved and impeccably groomed, and in fact more respectful and quiet than a lot of people in the congregation, but nice as he was (and I’m an animal lover), he didn’t belong there. Nevertheless, the bride was a vet, and our pastor, at her insistence, allowed the dog to be there. And, BTW, the groom’s imminent Baptism was announced by our pastor in the homily. And yes, they both received Holy Communion. So, on the scale of things, Rover accompanying his master out of the Church isn’t as bad. The music, however, was terrible — I’ve always hated that song. Unfortunately, it was a favourite of our choir directors. Their choice of music, and the general laxity of their approach, is why I don’t play at that parish any more.
It must be a Florida thing….
At my Keys parish the priest’s dog came to every Mass, walked into the sanctuary during the processional, and lay down beside the presided chair quietly until Mass ended.
I don’t think of that as a liturgical abuse, but just another example of lack of reverence–no, not lack of reverence, but lack of seriousness and focus on the sacrifice.
But then again, it seems like the NO just has this attitudinal open door for things like this.
Michael Val
On a slightly different bent, I can relate the problems I had as a young server in the mid 1970s trying to escort an errant, wet and muddy dog from the sanctuary without getting my surplice filthy. From memory it had no collar so the task was not straightforward. (And yes, we still had altar rails in those days, but he admitted himself through them nonetheless).
These unplanned things do happen – God’s simple creatures do just roll on in to church, unabashed by what is happening.
On this one, someone already said you have to pick your battles…
Appropriate to give the dog something to carry out of the church? Well, no. (though as a dog owner, for a random event it is possible that one might unconsciously fall into such an action).
I get the impression from some of the other comments that this is however a stage managed, regular occurence. That’s rather worse.
To be honest, I had a wry inner smile at the meekness of the dog.
Hmm. I see a dog wandering through the food court at a mall. Odd, but to each their own.
Oh, wait, that’s a church??????
In all seriousness, I am a devoted animal lover and loyal servant to 5 cats and a dog. That said, cute it may be, but I think also inappropriate. It blurs the line between the solemnity of the Mass and the informality of the outside world. I think a lot of readers would agree that losing that distinction is precisely where we started to go wrong.
Ben
I tend toward liturgical curmudgeoniness… or however you make it a property of a person, but I think humor and “props” (and I count dogs as “living props”) are ok at Mass if and only if: it’s to defuse an embarassment or shame someone is obviously feeling for something that happened, and you can do it to draw the attention away from that and make light of it, but not at the person’s expense; or if it is **actually** useful as a teaching tool for a homily or to explain something at Mass. The problem is people tend to remember the gimmick/joke/prop and forget the point. Make 500% sure the point does not get lost, and beware the temptation for props/jokes/gimmicks to be cute or to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
My brother served 6AM Mass everyday when he was in the 7th and 8th grades. Our beloved dog use to go with him. The beast could open the exterior door. After Mass started he would lay in the sacristy doorway,his head on his paws. If you sat in the first 1/2 dozen pews you could see him.
Even dogs don’t receive proper instruction these days. I know two priests who have dogs and both dogs are trained to stay (quietly) in the Parish office while their master says Mass. It’s part of a routine and they get to enjoy a treat while they wait. The parish I attended in Venezuela, dogs sometimes used to wander into the cool, dark and vast cavernous building (since the giant doors were always wide open to the plaza) to get out of the heat. They almost never made any noise, they just used to lay down on the cool marble floor in the back of church.
It is inappropriate to have a dog in the Church during Mass, but the clip provided is too short to give enough context.
Was the dog inside the Church for the whole Mass?
Did the priest bring in the dog or did the dog slip in while a door was opened (someone coming in late or leaving early)?
Is this a one-time or a regular occurrence?
Without more information, I’d chalk it up to “stuff happens”.
As kab63 asked, where were the ushers?
I am glad the priest has a lab as a companion. They are great dogs. I think he just wandered in. I will save my vitriol for something more serious.
I don’t think this can be chalked up to “stuff happens”. The priest didn’t even flinch when he turned around, saw the dog and handed it the hymnal. The dog was very likely trained to do this. Call me a curmudgeon if you want, but this is just another sign of the liturgical wasteland out there.
Anyone recall the episode of “Bless Me, Father” when Pontius the black lab came in to pay the bishop a visit?
Should be enough to convince anyone that dogs don’t belong at Mass!
There is nothing cute or endearing about a grown man — in this case, a priest — letting a dog into a worship service of any kind, never mind Holy Mass. But it is symptomatic of a generation of psychologically immature men who were led into the priesthood, without careful examination, or sound spiritual direction. No head of a house would let a dog into a fancy dinner party, or a black tie affair. What if the animal defecates on the floor? That would bring the party down, wouldn’t it? And yet many of the faithful think nothing of a priest encouraging this. He is lauded for being such a groovy guy. We would never tolerate such infantile behavior in any other venue.
I have seen this happen once, even in the Diocese of Arlington. In the dog’s defense, he was better behaved than most of the people there, including his owner/pastor.
Which is the only good thing I can say about it.
Ah, dogs at Church/Mass. My dog and I go everywhere together, but not to Mass. I get asked all of the time, where’s the dog? Why didn’t you bring the dog? I didn’t bring him because he’s a big distraction to me and to the other people around me. I don’t need people leaning over or across the isle to whisper greetings to him, or to tell me how cute he is. I’ve had to bring my dogs to Mass sometimes, when I’m out with them and it was a Holy day and I couldn’t drop him off at home and people always paid more attention to the dog than to Mass and I felt so bad about that, so I try never to bring the dog and it’s really helped.
Though, the first Mass I went to after I came home from training with my first dog, Marlin. I brought him with. When we knelt, I reached down to see how he was doing, and he had his front half on the kneeler. Even I think that is cute, but dogs don’t belong at Mass. I sure do miss Marlin though, he was a great dog, and he died way, way too young. I love his successor, but he’s a bit of a nut and there will never be another first.
I remember staying with the late Fr. Quintin Montgomery-Wright in his parish of Le Chamblac in Normandy; he was a Briton working in a French diocese (then headed by Jacques Gaillot) who only celebrated the EF. He had a poodle named Acateze which would often find its way into the church and which had learned, through watching people and its master, to genuflect by going down on its front two legs before the tabernacle. It would usually sit in front of one of the choir stalls.
My point is not to support canine attendance at the Holy Sacrifice but rather to reflect on the nature of the celebration. In the old rite that poodle instinctively knew it had to behave and that adults were behaving in a manner completely different from other situations. It reminds me of a Mass I once assisted at which was celebrated at a side altar at Westminster Cathedral. A family who were quite obviously not Catholic were visting the Cathedral and stood transfixed watching the altar for at least five minutes. People passing by who were talking to their friends became silent when passing the altar.
What was it that the Angelic Doctor write about not casting Hosts to dogs?
“…near our summer home in the Poconos. At the end of the processional, a large collie mix meandered down the aisle behind the priest and sat down next to a man. After doing a double-take, the man, who resembled Uncle Fester on the Adams Family, karate chopped the poor critter on the neck and out it went. It took a heroic effort not to laugh during the Mass.”
A man hits some poor animal for no good reason, and the congregation has to stifle the urge to laugh? What a lovely parish.
“The owner apologized profusely after Mass…”
Very appropriate of him. Did ‘Uncle’ make a similarly appropriate apology for what he did? I assume the owner didn’t press charges.
“It is inappropriate to have a dog in the Church during Mass…”
Service dogs, such as guide dogs, are entirely appropriate.
Of course it’s a liturgical abuse. Is it necessary to write in both black and red: cave canem? I don’t think so.
It is reputed that the late Cardinal Gray of Edinburgh had a dog which accompanied him to the Celebration of Mass every time, when the ‘New Mass’ came, the dog ceased its attendance thereat.
manwithblackhat said “No head of a house would let a dog into a fancy dinner party, or a black tie affair.”
I do; he’s even got his own bow tie for formal occasions. But I still wouldn’t take him to Mass. I’m sure I’ve read of medieval disputes over this, involving arrogant aristocracy assuming they can do what they like in “their” church.
Charivari Rob said “Service dogs, such as guide dogs, are entirely appropriate.”
Well, isn’t it more that they are essential for their owners, rather than it being “appropriate”? The dog would not be there in its own right.
Asperges mentioned the Canon whose cat would sit quietly in the sanctuary during Mass.
Being a cat, she probably thought the Mass was directed at her.
There is an elderly lady that sits in the front row every Sunday at the 7:00AM Mass with her “teacup poodle” in her purse during Mass. It irritates me in some ways, but then again, unless you are actually sitting next to her, you would probably never know the dog was there.
But a dog “participating” in the liturgy? Talk about “full, conscious and active”…can we add “innapropriate” to the list of modifying adjectives?
“Very appropriate of him. Did ‘Uncle’ make a similarly appropriate apology for what he did? I assume the owner didn’t press charges.”
He WAS the owner. That’s why the dog came in sat down next to him. I was
about 14 at the time and the last thing anyone was expecting was a dog to
come down the aisle behind a priest.
Tom Ryan-Yes, I remember ‘Pontius’ from ‘Bless Me, Father’-he was Billy Buzzle’s dog. And I sure remember the episode of ‘Pontius’ and the Bishop! That was a funny series….
Talking about dogs in church-there was a very traditional priest in our diocese who had a dog named ‘Dante’. It was a lhasa apso-I think-and when the priest was pastor in one of the suburban parishes the dog would sometimes lie down in the doorway between the church and the rectory as his master said his Office and other prayers before weekday Mass. The dog was very well-behaved, though he did bark at me sometimes when I came in. I usually sit in the front pew, at the opposite end of where his master sat. But when the priest went to the sacristy to vest for Mass, ‘Dante’ would be taken to the rectory-he was NEVER at Mass!
Sometimes I’d tease the dog-and his master-by saying, ‘Dante, are you looking for your Beatrice?’ Apparently Dante had a ‘doggie-girlfriend’ who lived nearby!
As ‘Dante’ got older, he got more cranky, as he developed back problems. In 2004, when I bent down to pet him-a ‘no-no’-he growled and nearly gave me a nip! He eventually had to be put to sleep because of old age.
Service dogs are all right in church, because they’re trained in behave in public situations. But ‘regular’ pets? Uh-uh…..
“He WAS the owner. That’s why the dog…”
Oh. I understand a little better now. It casts some of what the man did in a better light, some worse.
I do not mind animals in the back of Church, or even “tea-cup” or “basket dogs” like the one every Sunday High Mass at the Brompton Oratory years ago, but not in the sanctuary or in the aisles, unless chasing chickens or lizards out of the Church.
Well, it’s certainly irregular but there isn’t enough film or description to make a judgment other than that. I would certainly want to know more about the priest and what he usually does, people often do make poor judgments that don’t represent their usual behavior. And I would want more than one person’s description of what went on, as well as a complete account. So I would say: Dog at mass? NO. This film clip, and those short sentences proving that the priest is bad? NO.
The church design reminds me of my college dining hall.
I confess I can’t even bear to watch the video, but the thought strikes me as horrid. I can understand the presence of assistance dogs for the blind or otherwise disabled at mass, and blessings outside the church on the feast day of St. Francis, but anything else is just awful.
In the early 60’s a cat (goood sized) wandered into the sanctuary during Mass. He wandered this way and that as cats are wont to do until he settled himself on the altar boy’s (my son’s) shoulders as he was seated. At this point my son carefully carried him out of the sanctuary and closed the door–as perhaps it should have been to begin with. I don’t know if the priest ever knew about it because his back (horrors!) was turned towards the people–in the mind of some the more outrageous thing going on at the time.
In the early 60’s a cat (good sized) wandered into the sanctuary during Mass. He wandered this way and that as cats are wont to do until he settled himself on the altar boy’s (my son’s) shoulders as he was seated. At this point my son carefully carried him out of the sanctuary and closed the door–as perhaps it should have been to begin with. I don’t know if the priest ever knew about it because his back (horrors!) was turned towards the people–in the mind of some the more outrageous thing going on at the time.
RichardT:
The use of “seeing-eye” dogs in public places is not comparable. Such animals are well-trained to behave in public, and their handlers are trained to keep them that way. This includes having the creature maintain a low profile inasmuch as it is possible, and not being touched or otherwise distracted by others.
And if you’re dog wants to relieve himself on the carpet during cocktails, I doubt that his/her wearing a bow tie will make a difference.
During my formation, I had the great privilege of working in St. Louis while Cardinal Rigali was the Archbishop. A frequently used phrase in the Cathedral was “how long, O Lord?” That is what comes to my mind as I view this clip – how long, O Lord? What is even sadder, is that all priests have been told by Our Holy Father and their respective Bishops to stop these abuses. It is the lack of a spirit of obedience that allows this to go on. Furthermore, I perceive a lack of faith that greater care about the Liturgy will not enliven it, but render our sacrifice of praise in someway lacking. I repeat the phrase I learned in Saint Louis, “how long, O Lord?”
frere wilfrid and Fr. John Mary-I had a Jack Russell/hound mix named ‘Tia’. She was a good girl, and I miss her so…I had to put her to sleep in 2006 when she got sick with a blood disorder with a long Greek name and kidney failure. She wasn’t that old-not even six years old.
What does your ‘Kieran’ do when he sees the Holy Father, Fr. John? Does he jump and down and bark? Russells love to ‘bounce’!
And frere-I’m sorry that you lost your Russell ‘Pippa’ [what a cute name]. She didn’t like the SSPX, eh? What did she do-take a bite out of them?
Like Fr. Z said, ‘we could use some details’.
Fr. Jordan: I perceive a lack of faith that greater care about the Liturgy will not enliven it, but render our sacrifice of praise in someway lacking.
Regarding almost all liturgical abuses, it seems to me that a more concise statement might suffice:
I perceive a lack of faith.
I have not watched the video. I have not the time. This seems not so much a lack of faith but of reverence. It is becoming all too comfortable with the transcendent. Almost like sitting next to the burning bush and whipping out the marshmallows. It is taking the Lord for granted. In this sense it cannot be tolerated. When one considers what occurs at Mass in the actions of the priest one feels that all should approach with fear and awe. It was for this reason that customs preventing the Sacred particles from hitting the floor evolved. It was for this reason that the Apostle Paul admonished the Corinthians for failing to discern the Body. It was for this reason that those who were not of the faith were not admitted to the Sacred Liturgy. Recall the Liturgy of the East “The doors , the Doors Wisdom be attentive” proclaims to all present the Sacredness of the actions to be taken. Thus just as we who represent the cherubim and sing the thrice Holy hymn ought to leave fido in the rectory or at home. This priests poor choice reflects a level taking for granted the Mass. We all in one sense should reflect how often we do the same thing.
JPG