I’ve been checking Episcopal Life since July, and finally found this tonight at http://www.episcopal-life.org/26769_49197_ENG_HTM.htm

Consider new alternatives

I am exasperated and want to speak out about the church’s complicity on animal exploitation/suffering/killing. When stories like ìCall of the wild: Where eating out takes on a whole different meaning”, January] appear in the press, there is a sense of humor interwoven in the words, which I find disappointing, if not mildly offensive. It shows an ingrained cultural callousness.

I am the U.S. representative for the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals. That organization (based in the UK) and a General Convention resolution adopted last summer are little-known in this country. Sometimes I feel like we are up against insurmountable odds, trying to find a way to create a sensitivity within the church about the plight of animals.

Articles like the one about the “wildlife dinners” — I refer to them as “church-sponsored slaughter-fests for fun and profit” ñ encourage other churches around the country to have these dinners Ö as a fund-raising event for some good cause. I have to wonder if that is becoming a horrifying new trend among churches. I have to wonder why it is so necessary to kill representatives of as many species as possible as an attraction to raise a few dollars per dinner ticket. Wouldn’t it be possible to find enough church members to chip in $5 without feeling that they should get their money’s worth feasting on tidbits of deer, buffaloes, elks, fishes and anything else that lives and moves and has its being other than the family pet?

I would like churches to take a look at some of their traditions of fellowship, outreach and fund raising and think about the message they’re sending. And if it isn’t a peaceful message, I would ask them to think about alternatives.

Sue Grisham
…

- ‘Two Church-Sponsored Slaughter-Fests for Fun and Profit’
- (unabridged version) ‘An Open Letter to the Churches about Fundraisers and Social Events’