Ruth’s Animal Farewell

The Rev. Ruth Morrison performed her final Blessing of the Animals on Oct. 2, honoring the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Ruth will be retiring in June.

Thank you to Mark Braun for providing this wonderful collection of photos from the blessing, held in the church’s Outdoor Chapel.

Ruth started her annual blessing of the animals in 2005 for the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church. But her animal blessings date back to the 1980s when she combined the blessing with Rogation Sunday at the Goodwins Mills United Methodist Church. Rogation Sunday was an annual blessing of farm fields and crops.

The Goodwins Mills blessing included dogs, cats, gerbils, cockatiels, parakeets and chickens inside the church and cows and horses looking in from the outside.

The Cape Elizabeth blessings have largely been for dogs. But for the past three years, Church Treasurer Jim Tammaro has kept the mix of animals lively by bringing Sugar the goat. This year, Sugar even decided to participate by standing on benches intended for use by humans.

This year’s blessing was the first event held in the Outdoor Chapel since its renovation in September as an Eagle Scout project by Preston Stewart.

Click here for more images of the Animal Blessing

Click here for a look back at Ruth Morrison’s other Animal Blessings since 2005: Blessings