Katy Dickinson

The Cat Goes to Church

We took our cat Valentino to church last Sunday. It was St. Andrew's Episcopal Church's annual day for blessing the animals and honoring St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. Valentino lost his sister, littermate, and lifelong companion Garbo to cancer last summer, so we chose him of all of our pets to come to church this year.

St. Andrew's was full of dogs and cats and little creatures in portable terrariums and stuffed animals. There were more dogs than all of the other animals, so the music had to carry over a certain amount of territorial barking and squabbling in the pews. The clergy and children read poems and Bible passages about animals. Of course, we sang the hymn

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

We brought Tino in his cat carrier so he had a place to hide but he was calm enough to come out for a blessing by Rev. Kate Atkinson. The service was of course followed by a Kibble and Cake Reception.

Tino and John:

Tino and John and Paul:

Tino and John and Kate:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 09:52PM Oct 08, 2007 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[2]

Getting a Crowd to Quiet Down

As a lifelong Episcopalian, I know there is one sure way to quiet down a meeting, you say: The Lord be with you. Everyone will immediately shush and reply: And also with you. It's like magic. You can have 300 Episcopalians chatting in a room but as soon as someone steps to the microphone and says The Lord be with you, the meeting starts and everyone settles down. In non-church life, there are rough equivalents but nothing quite so effective. I find a rousing shout of Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the meeting will now begin! works OK but not as well.

On Saturday, my husband and I attended the 16th anniversary dinner and dance to celebrate the founding of Holy Child Episcopal Church, a Filipino-American mission congregation in San Jose, CA. I found that they have an additional crowd quieting call-and-response ritual which works very well. The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio stood at the microphone and said God is good! and the ballroom (which until a minute before had been full of conversations and laughter) chorused back All the time! She then reponded with All the time! and they cheered back God is good! Then, everyone was quiet to hear what Ruth had to say.

The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio is the Vicar of Holy Child. Ruth is the first Filipino-American woman clergy ordained in California and only the third in the USA. I had the honor of participating in her ordination to the priesthood a year ago. Ruth is a capable and energetic leader but also a modest person. Having more than one crowd quieting ritual available must be of help to her.

Saturday's dinner-dance seemed like a big success. There was a live band and a DJ, raffles and plaques to honor notables, Bishop-elect Mary Gray-Reeves spoke, as did Holy Child's founding Vicar (and the current national church Director of Ethnic Congregational Development) Rev. Fred Vergara, as did Joe Esteves, Mayor of Milpitas, and Holy Child Senior Warden, Angie Dela Cruz. The food was very good, the dancing was fun (yes, Bishop Mary can dance!), and the company was charming.

Posted at 11:41AM Oct 08, 2007 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]