Archbishop of Cincinnati speaks out for the animals at church festivals
This deserves a place of prominence, instead of just an obscure link on another story. The following is an excerpt of a story that can be found at ape-connections.org :
Animals like rats, gold fish and turtles heard good news when The Most Reverend Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, advised his clergy to encourage their parishioners to mirror the “compassion of Jesus”. He said, “It is counterproductive to elicit support for our churches and schools by inflicting terror and pain on animals”. In their campaign to stop church festivals from using live animals at gaming booths, animal rights activists were delighted when they were able to get the Archbishop to speak out on behalf of the animals. Such animal exploitation as rat roulette*, turtle races and ping pong gold fish, used to abound at Catholic parish summer festivals in Cincinnati until local activists took on the task of getting the abuse stopped.
The remarkable statement by Archbishop Pilarczyk is groundbreaking news for the animals because very little has ever been done by the church in practice, preaching or teaching to help them. That’s why so many animal rights activists have turned off Christianity. And yet many animal rights theorists are pointing out that Christianity has within it many themes that could be powerful for animal liberation. Besides, there is a large segment of the population that might be able to be won over if a true Christianity were to be made available to them. This has been the goal of the campaign to get live animals out of church festivals....
Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
(Book of Common Prayer, page 827)
