An Anglican priest is in trouble because, in a moment of whimsy, he gave communion to a neighbourhood dog.
Normally that's the type of story you read over coffee, shake your head and move on. At most you ask the obvious, albeit silly, question: "how did this particular puppy manage to participate in Original Sin?"
But in fact the issue is deeper and goes to the heart of the slow collapse of the Anglican Church in Canada -- what theological thinking would lead a Priest to give communion to a dog?
This isn't a silly question.
And the answer could be (but isn't) profound.
It could be that the Priest, seeing that the World is broken, and seeing that humans are animals and all need to be mended, decided to give a dog communion. There was a Rabbi in Toronto who married birds on the basis their fidelity warranted marriage. An unusual view but one that is serious and engaged.
The trouble with this view is that the Priest apologised. It wasn't that the Priest saw a radical connection among all creatures in the circle of life -- rather the Priest just thought it was fun to give the dog communion.
And that points to the collapse -- if a Priest doesn't think communion is serious why should anyone else?
2 comments:
Don't generalize from one individual. Just as most lawyers have a grip on, so do most priests.
I can also tell you that a priest with a loose grip is still a kinder and wiser person than a lawyer with a loose, or even a few with a tight, grip.
Religion is bullshit. Nothing more than old boring fiction. It's startling that someone educated albeit in law still believes in that crap. Who cares about communion for a dog? It's meaningless anyhow.
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