On Sunday, Oct. 2, churches around the world will celebrate something that St. Francis of Assisi started almost 800 years ago- blessing our animals.  The animals of God’s creation inhabit the skies, the earth, and the sea. They share in the ways of human beings. They have a part in our lives. Francis of Assisi recognized this when he called the animals, wild and tame, his brothers and sisters.

Remembering Francis’ love for these brothers and sisters of ours, we invoke God’s blessing on these animals, and we thank God for letting us share the earth with all the creatures.

The Canterbury Episcopal School is celebrating Blessing of the Animals this Thursday, September 29th at 8:00 AM.  This annual tradition will take place across the Lower School building in the spare lot.  Just like the years past, we invite families to bring their pet or animals they would like to take part in the blessing to school that morning.  Because the service takes place at 8:00 AM, we ask all parents bring their pet home directly after.  As we know, many parents are unable to attend Blessing of the Animals, so we invite our Canterbury students to bring a stuffed pet or photo to be blessed in the place of the real pet.  We would love for as many families that can to join us at this fun, meaningful service to give these ‘friends’ a blessing for this next year.