pets

D. Rebecca Dinovo 12-27-2022
A picture of (adorable) beagle puppies pouncing and nibbling on a stick in thick grass.

In summer 2022, the Humane Society of the United States rescued nearly 4,000 beagles from an Envigo breeding facility in Virginia after officials found multiple animal welfare violations. / Carolyn Cole / Getty Images

I REMEMBER HEARING that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had adopted one of the beagles [from] the largest rescue that the Humane Society has ever done.

What struck me was how long people had been trying to whistleblow and alert authorities. It took years for real action to be taken, but [that’s] not surprising, especially when you’re dealing with a large corporation. I have found [animal welfare activism] incredibly challenging and at times discouraging. Criticisms I’ve received personally in the church [imply] animal welfare is a peripheral issue. The fact is these are God’s creatures who are suffering, and we’re responsible, as part of our Christian vocation, to be stewards of our earth and of all the animals.

The Editors 12-26-2022
An illustration of Janes Evans and a German Shepherd over his shoulder, accompanied with a quote: "I want people to think of pet ownership as being as diverse and complex as pets themselves. There is a pet out there for everyone."

James Evans is founder and CEO of Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity (CARE), which strives to make animal welfare and rescue more equitable. / Illustration by Tiarra Lucas

ALL THREE FEATURE articles in this issue revolve around issues of power. Jenna Barnett looks at the power wielded by charismatic leaders such as Jean Vanier, one of the founders of the L’Arche communities, and how his power — and a lack of accountability — became a fountainhead of abuse. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, explores the May 2022 killing of Palestinian Christian Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli military, a consequence of the massive power imbalance between the State of Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine. And Sojourners’ Moya Harris, an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, looks at the spiritual power of Lauryn Hill and other female rappers who address questions of “sexual power, sexism, embodiment, racism, and economic issues” in their lives and music.

As Christians enter the season of Lent, we reflect on human brokenness and who we are before the cross. Abusive power is not new. But it also does not have the final word, as the people in these stories show.

Russell Elleven 2-28-2022
A crowd holds small dogs aloft as a priest flings droplets of holy water over the crowd

Catholic priest Manuel Salazar (left) blesses dogs with holy water in Iztapalapa, Mexico. / Henry Romero / Reuters

“We want to recognize how you have blessed Bandit and how Bandit has blessed you.”

Joe Kay 8-19-2015

Image via /Shutterstock

Pets are so much easier to get along with than people. They’re not as complicated and unpredictable, not as demanding and challenging, not as mysterious and messy.

People are very messy. And that messiness makes relationships a portal to the divine.

As much as we like to be with our pets, we have to keep going out the door and dealing with people. Amazing people. Frustrating people. Inspiring people. Loving people. Broken people. Confused people. Self-doubting people. Challenging people. Lost people. People who have all the same anxieties and fears that we do. Relationships make us grow into who we are meant to be. And the process is always, always, always messy. If there’s no messiness, there’s not much relationship.

Relationships tap into our insecurities and make them bubble up and out despite our best efforts to ignore them or keep them hidden. They highlight our fears and insecurities in bright, bold colors. They grow and develop in their own time and have their own confusing and confounding rhythms. They challenge us and fulfill us and yes, they make us want to beat our heads against the wall, depending upon the time of the day.

Girl with Golden Retriever photo, Martin Valigursky, Shutterstock.com

Girl with Golden Retriever photo, Martin Valigursky, Shutterstock.com

The owner of a business who claimed he would provide atheist rescuers for Christians' pets left behind in the Rapture now says his service was an elaborate hoax and never had any clients.

Bart Centre, who lives in New Hampshire, came clean after the state Insurance Department delivered a subpoena because he appeared to be engaged in "unauthorized business of insurance" through his Eternal Earth-Bound Pets business.

"Eternal Earth-Bound Pets employs no paid rescuers," Bart Centre wrote in a blog post on March 16. "It has no clients. It has never issued a service certificate. It has accepted no service contract applications nor received any payments -- not a single dollar -- in the almost three years of its existence."

Owners with their dogs attend a blessing of pets and animals.(Photo by Marco Sec

Owners with their dogs attend a blessing of pets and animals.(Photo by Marco Secchi/Getty Images)

When doomsday prophet Harold Camping conceded last week that his failed May 21 end-of-the-world prediction was "incorrect and sinful," the average American probably shrugged, perhaps even snickered.

But for Bart Centre, Camping's mea culpa could have real impact on his bottom line.

The co-owner of a business that promises to care for the pets of Christians who are swept up in the Rapture saw a jump in business last year ahead of Camping's prediction.

Now he's sorry to see Camping get out of the predictions business.

 

 

"It was obviously a mistake," said Centre, who runs Eternal Earth-Bound Pets from New Hampshire. "I'm just sorry that he's not going to be doing any more predictions because it's good for business."