administered holy communion to a dog<\/a>. At the clergy fellowship lunch Fr Giles said he was scandalized, but not surprised. Said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised at anything the female clergy might do. \u201cWhat next?\u201d he asked, \u201ctaking communion to the zoo and administering to a gorilla?\u201d<\/p>\nWell, poor old Lav was practically apoplectic poor soul. Nearly in tears. Said Giles had no idea about anything at all and that dogs were God\u2019s creatures too. \u201cWhat would St Francis have done?\u201d she said, and didn\u2019t Our Lord himself say something about dogs picking up the morsel of bread from the master\u2019s table? We all got into quite a lather about the whole affair and Lavinia admitted that from time to time when their own doggie was feeling under the weather that she and Georgie had more than once laid hands on her for healing and even anointed the old girl (the doggie that is) with holy oil.<\/p>\n
I said that was going a bit far, but tried to lighten things up a bit by telling the story about how old Canon Farnsworth once got finagled into doing a funeral for a budgerigar. Seems one of the old women in the parish had a dog die, and the undertaker twisted Canon Farnsworth\u2019s arm to turn up and say a few prayers at the graveside for the pooch. When he rolls up it turns out that there\u2019s a coffin and pallbearers and the whole kit and caboodle for the poor deceased hound. So Canon Farnsworth put a good face on it and did his best. Then at the bunfight afterwards one of the old ducks offered him a cucumber sandwich and said, \u201cLovely service vicar.\u201d then said in hushed tones, \u201cMy Bobbie was in the coffin too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Bobbie??\u201d said Canon Farnsworth. \u201cWho on earth was your Bobbie?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy budgie\u201d said the old dear. \u201cHe passed six months ago and I knew Harriet\u2019s dog was about to go so I popped him in the deep freeze until Sammy passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canon Farnsworth nearly spit out his tea and sandwich, but managed to say, \u201cWell, I wish I\u2019d known, and I\u2019d have said a prayer for Bobbie too.\u201d<\/p>\n
What do I think about it all? Well, I\u2019m not really fussed. I can\u2019t see it has done any harm to offer the doggie the Holy Communion. I\u2019m sure the lady vicar didn\u2019t mean to offend anyone. Storm in a teacup really.<\/p>\n
Daphne? Yes, well. There is a bit of a sore point. Made me a bit cross I must say. Daff read about it in the Daily Telegraph and simply snorted a bit (as she does) and said, \u201cDoesn\u2019t make a bit of difference. What the silly woman gave the dog was only bread anyway. Might as well have given him a Bonio and been done with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I tried to pick her up on the point and say that she was a bit out of line, but she put down her paper and said, \u201cJust what do you believe about Holy Communion anyway Humphrey darling?\u201d<\/p>\n
But I wasn\u2019t going to take the bait. I try to avoid these little theological spats with Daff if I can. What? Yes Nigel, I don\u2019t mind if I do have another half a lager shandy. Thanks very much indeed. Very kind.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guest blogger, The Rev\u2019d Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda\u2019s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[4,21,94],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-vicar","tag-alter-egos","tag-anglicans","tag-humor"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Vicar on Canine Communion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/08\/the-vicar-on-canine-communion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vicar on Canine Communion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. 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