Jump directly to the Content

Best in Show

News you can use

New Trend: Ministry Dogs. Like service dogs, these pets team with pastors to lead worshipers and care for ailing congregants. There's Tiger, a Labrador trained by NEADS, the National Education of Assistance Dogs Services, who goes on nursing home rounds with Ami Sawtelle, a minister at three United Methodist churches in Boothbay, Maine.

And there's Carney, unordained but evidently called, an 11-year-old French Bulldog who lies on his bed beside the pulpit while Pastor Kelly Harvell preaches in Whitefield and Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Carney appears on the website and attends four services each week. He also nuzzles worship attenders who need a little affection. "He seems very aware of who needs him," Harvell said.

At Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mission, Texas, Chunkly and Bendito have their own vestments to match those of their master, Father Roy Snipes. "If you want to look for a church that doesn't have dogs," Snipes tells complainers, "I'm sure you'll find one." -info from USA Today

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
What Pastors are Saying
What Pastors are Saying
We asked probing questions. You answered candidly.
From the Magazine
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Controversy over Bibles in Jamaica, the Philippines, and Germany reveal the divide between the sacred and the relatable.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close