The dog days of summer have produced a flap over a priest who in a moment of outreach gave a communion wafer to a dog. Toronto Star reports that the incident has been resolved and the priest has apologized for her enthusiasm:
…[a] happy ending to a tale that set tongues wagging and church officials grumbling after Rev. Marguerite Rea gave a communion wafer to a four-legged worshipper at St. Peter’s Anglican Church on Carlton St. a month ago.
She made no bones about the incident at Sunday’s 10:30 a.m service.
“If I have hurt, upset or embarrassed anyone, I apologize,” she told 50 congregants. “It was a simple church act of reaching out.”
But she’s not in the doghouse to Trapper, a 4-year-old German Shepherd-Rhodesian ridgeback cross, and his owner Donald Keith, who calls Rea “a dear, sweet lady.”
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But one parishioner felt the church offended the sacred ritual and complained to the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. Bishop Patrick Yu, the area bishop of York-Scarborough responsible for St. Peter’s who received the complaint, called the act a “misguided gesture of welcoming.”
But Rea says she’s received a lot of support through phone calls, visits and emails. The incident, which thrust the 137-year-old downtown church into the spotlight, has even brought new people in, she says, pointing out that “Jesus is a positive person and Christianity is a positive religion.”
Congregant Suzette Mafuna doesn’t understand why giving a dog communion would raise anyone’s hackles.
“We’re all God’s creatures. If a dog goes into a church, he’s entitled to every service that’s offered, including spiritual nourishment.”
What think ye?