PETS
Amici, Amercani, Compatriotae,
Two Wednesdays ago Father Kirby gave a talk a my parish on the topic of
the Environment and Sanity which you may read here:
While Father explained that mankind has a duty of stewardship over the
environment, he also pointed out that God gave man dominion over the Earth and
all the plants and animals therein. It isn’t vice versa. He also pointed out
that only man is created in the image and likeness of God, not animals, Rather,
animals are said to be the vestiges or footprint of God. But animals do not
have sentience, and they do not possess eternal souls.
Yes, Proverbs 11:12 states, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the
life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” Thus, my priest
explained, “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.” My priest went on with a personal
anecdote.
When he was a child, my priest’s family had a pet dog. The dog had
developed (or perhaps already had) epilepsy for unknown reasons. My priest’s
father brought the dog to the veterinary to see what could be done. Treatment
was available, but the cost was very high. So one day when my priest came home
from school, the dog was nowhere to be found. He asked his father where the dog
was and what had happened. His father explained that he had taken the dog out
in the woods and shot it dead. My priest asked why. His father explained that
as long as there were human children with epilepsy, he in good conscience could
not and would not spend an exorbitant amount of money on a mere animal. Humans,
being in God’s image and likeness, are far more important. So he painlessly put
the dog out of misery, and the family got a new (and health) dog.
Father Kirby explained that it is wrong to ascribe to mere animals
human feelings, motivations and intelligence. He described with disparagement
current practice among young millennials of carrying their small dogs in baby
baskets or treating their cats like little infants. A dog and a cat need to be
what they are: animals. Anthropomorphizing them does a disservice to them by
not treating them as what they truly are, and ends up denigrating us humans as
nothing better than animals. My priest explained that all this is due to the
fact that people don’t want to be inconvenienced by babies, so they end up
unnaturally redirecting affections (rightfully reserved for children) to their
pets. He ended by saying that if people treated the pre-born as they treat
their pets, then abortion would be a thing of the past. And he reminded me of
what Saint Paul wrote in Romans 1:22, 23 & 25:
“Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles…..they
exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”
Pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.) and service animals (horses, cows, oxen, goats, sheep, etc.) are wonderful gifts from God. But let them be what (not who for they aren't a "who") they are –
animals. And don’t give to them what is rightfully reserved for humans.
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