Jackson Hole News and Guide from Jackson, Wyoming • 47

JACKSON HOLE Wednesday, October 6, 2004 3B 1 NewS4GUDE PHOTO HEU.Y GLASSCOCK As Rev. Ken Asel addresses the congregation of Saint John's Episcopal Church on Sunday, Annabelle attempts to visit with other pets awaiting blessings. Fionas as a chuirch mouse Creatures great and small rouse merry commotion at annual pet blessing. ff) II Knight peeks from his pew during the 10 a.m. service.

By Melanie White It was not quite Noah's Ark, but St. John's Episcopal Church thronged with furred and even finned creatures Sunday for the annual blessing of pets. A cacophonous menagerie added largely canine voice to hymns "All Creatures of my God and King" and "All Creatures Great and Small" during the service, which was held in honor of St. Francis of Assisi's feast day. While collies, giant poodles, Jack Russell terriers and corgis variously strained to rub noses, cowered between the pews and yawned in their owners' arms, several exotic creatures represented the rodent and aquatic kingdoms in more serene style.

A white rat named Poker sought refuge in the capacious sleeve of 8-year-old altar boy William Paul Thomas; two dwarf hamsters, Chips and Salsa, quivered softly beneath their wood shavings; and a goldfish with fins like gauzy miniature sails drifted lazily around its small glass jar. "Try to give them a little space here," implored Rev. Ken Asel, rector of St. John's, almost overcome by wagging tails and warning growls at the outset of the blessings. Whether the canine contingent was more eager to receive the rector's benediction of "a happy, safe and healthy year" or a treat from his helpers' bowls of dog biscuits was unclear.

Most sat willingly to collect a quick pat, the sign of the cross and a "blessing on the feast of St. Francis" label, tied round the collar of each with pink string. The pet blessings, which took place shortly after Dennis Johnson's sermon on St. Francis, represent a very old and traditional custom, Asel said. "On a superficial level, it's a time to thank God for the companions that brighten our lives," he said.

"On a deeper level, it's an acknowl- up their owners' leftover donuts. "It's a real fun event," said Bob Henderson, who brought his black Labrador, Ammy, to receive the sacrament. "It's the only church I've been to that has something like this." Thomas, changed out of his crimson and white robes, agreed he would like to bring Poker to church every Sunday. "He likes to hide" and so would cause no trouble, said Thomas, whose younger brother John Henry is Poker's real owner. Thomas ascribed Poker's good behavior not to training, but to recreation.

"We just play with him a lot," he said, as Poker twitched his whiskers in assent and wriggled gently in Thomas's hands. Jenny Menolascino, whose children Anthony and Jueliet own Chips and Salsa, called the dwarf hamsters "our little church mice," and said they were a hit among the dog-dominant assembly. "I think they'll probably survive and thrive more because of the blessings," she said with a laugh. edgment that all share the same source of creation and life." St. Francis, who lived in Italy during the 12th century, was noted for his belief that life in animals and life in human beings was essentially the same.

"For him, it was a very natural expression of how to experience God," Asel said, "although today it would be seen as a very liberal, progressive view." The devotion of many Jackson residents to their pets reminds Asel of Great Britain, he said, "where every pub has a pub dog, where dogs are allowed into stores," although his view might reflect more Anglophile myth than modern-day reality. The levity of pet blessings has a particularly British quality, he said. "Just as Great Britain is known for its eccentricity, there is something eccentric about this." Dogs sporting Sunday best of bright pink shorts, T-shirts, neck-kerchiefs and even tutus crowded into an adjoining room after the service to lap.