The following comes from a June 22 report on NBC Bay Area.
During his lifetime, Saint Francis of Assisi was famously devoted to animals. Paintings and statues depict the saint frolicking with birds, dogs and other beasts.
The lore of San Francisco’s namesake seemed an ideal fit for a city where dogs outnumber kids. Inside the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi in San Francisco’s North Beach, tributes to the saint’s life abound, especially in its annual blessing of the animals.
On a recent weekend, the shrine’s rector Father Gregory Coiro blessed some 500 pets during the two-day stretch.
“Mostly dogs,” said Coiro, wearing a brown robe and tangled beard. “But there were a few cats and a few angora rabbits.”
The shrine has long opened its doors to living pets in the spirit of Saint Francis. But now, it’s also opening them to the dead. In a newly discovered grotto beneath the shrine’s front steps, Coiro has envisioned the building of a columbarium to house the ashes of the dearly departed of the pet world.
“The people who bring their pets here can be Catholic or they can be non-Catholic,” said Coiro. “Cause afterall, the animals have no religion.”
Currently the concrete pillared cave looks like the ruins of a Roman temple.
Though work on the site has not yet begun, the shrine recently released a brochure with depictions of glass-walled partitions where pets’ ashes will be interned.
Visitors will be greeted by a large portrait of Saint Francis himself, and a video monitor will play video loops of pets enshrined in the space. In another corner, a large memorial will pay tribute to police and rescue dogs, like those who searched for survivors and bodies amid the rubble of the Twin Towers in New York on 9/11….
To read the entire NBC story, click here.
Father Coiro clarified the Church teaching about animals in last week’s bulletin.
“One thing I wanted to be very careful about is making sure that nothing about the columbarium suggest that animals participate in the Redemption (I have been asked to celebrate Mass for deceased animals and I explain that the Mass is the Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner for the forgiveness of sins. Since animals are incapable of sinning, we cannot offer Mass for them after they die.)”
The same bulletin (June 24-30) announces the end of Father Coiro’s term as rector of St. Francis and asks prayers for his health.
Unbelievable!
Good to here Fr Gregory preaching the “rainbow bridge”; Will Rogers said something about wanting to go where the dogs go when he dies. Jesus restores the earth … not sure what this means, but would seem that animals will be there, if not there already. “Lion lying down with lamb”, “child lying down with asp”: This means that some day the devil will be vanquished and man and animal, somehow, will reside with one another in peace … Can you imagine that, the neighbor’s pack of pit bulls running around fetching ice cream cones for the kids on the street?!?
Let me add that one of the most comforting sounds in the wee hours of the night is a gaggle of sleeping dogs snoring away in complete solace. Another competing sound is the nine choirs of angels … interesting comparison, if you think about it.
That is what I a pet project!
Fr Coiro would do better to focus on rebuilding the Church – Francis’s other mission!!
For the past “50” years or so, St. Francis of Assisi has been feminized as this tender animal loving saint. But prior to that, he was a strong devout Catholic who loved Christ and would have never thought of placing animals at the same level as humans. Stuck on “STUPID”. As in last Sundays readings, let the Dead bury the Dead. It’s amazing that the Bishops, who know about these sort of things, continue to allow these sort of things to happen. Wake up Shepards of the Faith.
Great point!
CCC: ” 2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons. ”
Did Archbishop Cordileone approve this burial ground for pets inside (under) a Diocese Church?
I noted that the Pastor is being transferred.
“Coiro admitted the columbarium would also help generate money for the upkeep of the shrine.”
“He said the church hadn’t determined the fees for housing pet cremains, although the brochure was seeking donations to the project in the $1000 to $40,000 range.”
1 Timothy 6:10 Douay-Rheims
“For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.”
Father Coiro says…” Since animals are incapable of sinning, we cannot offer Mass for them after they die.”
Father Coiro, Animals are a gift from God but they are not to be revered as gods and receive the honor and glory that is due to God only. Father Coiro, Your judgement is erroneous and in this regard YOU are capable of sinning and greatly offending God when you choose to divide God’s OWN house into a section for honoring the ashes or memories of dead animals. This is sacrilegious. This is not what Our Lord meant when he said, “Do This in Memory of Me.” This is not what St. Francis had in mind when he set out to rebuild Christ’s Church. It is wrong to solicit money to house the ashes of dead animals inside a Catholic Church. It is very wrong to cleverly plot to misuse and take advantage of the emotional attachment to animals from human beings who do not understand the Catholic Church’s teaching in this regard. St. Francis may have blessed the animals but St. Francis did not ask one Bishop or priest to house the ashes of dead animals in the House of God. You are right about one thing though, the animals are incapable of sinning. It is not the animals that will be sinning.
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND”
ARTICLE 1
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.3
It is written: “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”4
I. “YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE”
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ERRONEOUS JUDGMENT
1791 This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man “takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.”59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.
1792 Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.
Sacrilege
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.”44 Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast”45 refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.46
2114 Human life finds its unity in the adoration of the one God. the commandment to worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from an endless disintegration. Idolatry is a perversion of man’s innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who “transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God.”47
YEAR OF FAITH
Repenting of the Failure of Parish-Based Catechesis: Time for An Old Idea
Nice doesn’t mean good teaching and we urgently need some good teaching.
By Barbara R. Nicolosi, May 29, 2013
“It’s long past time for the Catholic Church in the United States to acknowledge and address the fact that in many, possibly most, dioceses, parish-based catechesis has been an abject failure. In the vaunted Year of Faith, it should sting all of our leaders and pastors that few of the ever-dwindling percentage of Catholics in the pews on a Sunday morning could pass a basic catechetical quiz. How many Gen X Catholics could name one of the precepts of the Church or recall any one set of the Mysteries of the Rosary? How many of our teenagers could list all Ten Commandments? How many First Communicants could recite the Acts of Faith or Hope, or name the Seven Sacraments? The terrible, tragic, and fundamental truth for 21st century Catholicism is, not many! ”
We need to suppress the impulse to defend the indefensible, because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of the lovely people who have been pulled in to teach the Faith in all our parishes.
It’s beyond my scope here to say how devastating and even cruel it is for the Church Militant to perpetuate Her systemic failure in this area. Ignorance leads to suffering. Religious ignorance leads to eternal death.”
We are awash in a broader culture of banality, ugliness, and stupidity, and we have several generations of disciples who are completely incapable of coping with it because of their double ignorance of their faith. Double ignorance, from Plato, means they don’t know, and they don’t know that they don’t know.
I’ll stipulate that there are some exceptions — parishes here and there that are handing on the faith well and forming solid little disciples. But they are the great exception and we can’t let the fact of their existence derail the urgent discussion of what we have to do about rest.”
Good comments Catherine and Dottie. Saint Francis of Assisi would not approve of this…for his real love was for our Lord over all. Which should be for us all and we need to listen to Jesus when He asked St. Peter:
“He said to him the third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him: Feed my sheep.” ~~John 21:17
…and of course he didn’t make any burial plots in the church for sheep. :)
“I have been asked to celebrate Mass for deceased animals and I explain that the Mass is the Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner for the forgiveness of sins. Since animals are incapable of sinning, we cannot offer Mass for them after they die.” (Father Corio)
Well, just terrific — no Mass (for a stipend of five dollars to the priest), but you can plunk down $40,000 and get your hamster’s cremains buried in a Catholic Church.
What’s next?
The selling of indulgences for dogs who bit people?
Confessions for cats?
Or we will begin imitating those loony Episcopalians who’ve even gone to giving Communion to pets? (Check our Father Z’s blog from 22 July 2010: “According to those in attendance at the historical church at 188 Carlton St. in downtown Toronto, it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner – a first timer at the church — feel welcomed. But at least one parishioner saw the act as an affront to the rules and regulations of the Anglican Church. He filed a complaint with the reverend and with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident – and has since left the church.”)
The good Father shouild put all his energy in restoring the Tradtional Latin Mass to his parish. I adore my dogs and they mean the world to me and are my companions and loyal friends, but I place humans above them.
St. Francis loved the Mass in Latin….so yes that would be an excellent point to make Janek…please write to this priest.
Speaking of Latin, yet another reason we should not use our Catholic churches for pet cemeteries:
“Cave Canem!” (Latin: “Beware of the dog!”)
And for that matter, “Do not give what is holy to dogs.”
I bury our dogs on-property and mark the sites. This could be seen as an urban adaptation and in a balanced world might be just an acceptable oddity. Today, it would just create confusion and scandal. Hopefully this will die with the Father’s retirement.
When asked by a distraught correspondent whether her recently deceased dog would be with her in Paradise, C. S. Lewis gave the wise (and very English) response that if her eternal happiness depended on her dog’s presence, God would see to it that her dog was with her. However, crypt burials for humans (an honor commonly reserved for saints, founders or noble benefactors) is so old a Catholic tradition that this proposal is ridiculous, and in these times of the unnatural worship of animate nature (faunolatry) works against the Culture of Life rather than supports it. .
This is disgusting! Archbishop Cordileone needs to stop this immediately. Perhaps the bodies of aborted babies could be given this buiral space, that is, if they aren’t disposed of in the toilets of abortion mills.
The Bishop of San Francisco allowing this money-making scheme to go forward reminds me of that story about an old priest who was asked to do a funeral Mass for a dog. He got indignant and refused, until the dog’s owner mentioned he had planned to give a hefty donation to the parish. “Oh, faith and begorrah,” the priest replied, “you didn’t tell me your dog was CATHOLIC!”
The joke makes me laugh — but this travesty at the Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi does NOT.
To have a safe place in a Catholic parish, where dear, beloved pets can be buried, is a most compassionate act! I have long wished for such a place! A place where God is also accepted, and worshipped, unlike secular places of burial! God made all the Earth, with all the animals in it, as well as human beings, and He loves all of His creation, very deeply! Everything that exists, belongs to Him! Poor little animals are so helpless, and do not commit sin, as they cannot reason, as humans do!! Unlike humans, who are capable of reason and choosing sin– Christ did not need to die to save them! It is also a magnificent thing, that animals can be so very loving, accepting, and pure of heart! Compared to us, they are so little and helpless, and in desperate need of our love, compassion, and help for all their needs! The last kind act we can offer them, is to bury them with love, grace, and dignity, in a lovely place, hopefully, where God is watching over them! Bless them!! I am sure that at the Shrine of St. Francis, burial of beloved pets’ ashes, will be in accordance with our Catholic Faith, and not abused. My pets always have collars, as well as carriers, with small, blessed medals of St. Francis and the Blessed Mother, along with their tags with their names and addresses. I always include them, in my daily prayers!
Oh, dear, Linda Maria — you seem quite fond of exclamation points.
I like pets, too, but let’s not get carried away — like those rich old ladies who leave fortunes to their cats when they die, as opposed to leaving the money to a truly worthy cause that helps human beings, made in the image and likeness of God.
As someone has already pointed out, the whole business of Saint Francis and animals has been exaggerated over the years, whereas in fact many of the original stories (e.g., preaching to the birds) were symbolic about human nature, not actual homilies delivered to pigeons.
Why so much scorn and cruelty, in your writing?? Why not try to simply be kind to animals? The poor animals are all so helpless! Surely, these poor creatures do not deserve your cruelty and scorn, and neither do I!! That is all I was trying to say: Be kind to animals!! That’s all! I have no idea, as to what St. Francis did with animals, when he was alive. All people who love God, should be kind and loving to His creation, don’t you think?? Also, I do not think this project should cost people much money, and should not replace other very important and necessary projects or programs, which the Church carries out. It is simply a nice thing, that’s all! By the way, animal companions for the elderly and sick or disabled among us, including sick or disabled children– also provides a very compassionate way to help these poor people, as well as to give the poor animal a good home! Animals can give so much love! After all, they, too, were created by God, Who is Divine Love!!
As I read the article, the pet burial is underneath the steps outside the Church. If that is true, what is the difference in using that as a fund raiser than having a rummage sale pn the Church grounds?
While I am no fan of Fr. Coiro, we have clashed many a time when he was Mahony’s official Spokesperson. He even threatened to have me arrested when we demonstrated in front of the Chancery, but the LAPD would have nothing to do with it. I can’t get that riled up about this fund raiser for the Shrine.
When my Dog “Rosie” died, I would have liked to have had a place to put her ashes, but I would not have paid a fortune for it.
BTW, St. Padre Pio is said to have said the same thing as C.S. Lewis when someone expressed similar sentiment to him
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
I think PETA would love this idea and so will the pet owners who consider their dogs their children…..so it’s not about pleasing St. Francis its about pleasing this modern world.
The saints show us Jesus….
It seems to me that not only the saints, but ALL of creation shows us Christ, for, as John tells us, “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” In showing honor and respect to creation – even if it’s in the form of burying beloved pets – then one is showing honor and respect to the Creator.
I have never owned a pet, but I imagine pet owners who care for the needs of their animals, who feed and clean them, see the innate goodness in their animals, the same innate goodness that is in all creation. Burial would presumably be an logical and final extension of that insight.