ラクダやダチョウも！　米ＮＹの教会、動物を祝福

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ニューヨーク・マンハッタンにある聖ヨハネ大聖堂で１日、犬などの動物を連れた多数の信者が祝福を受けた。（写真は米ニューヨーク・マンハッタンにある聖ヨハネ大聖堂で祝福を受ける犬）
　ペットと動物の守護聖人として知られるアッシジの聖フランチェスコの祝日を祝うため、大聖堂には、ラクダ、ポニー、ヘビ、ダチョウ、ガチョウ、猫、犬などが集まった。
　通常は１０月最初の日曜日に執り行われるが、２０１８年以降は火災や新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）の影響で中止されていた。今年は再び、スケジュール通りの開催となった。
　連れて来られた動物は犬が最も多かった。式の最中はおとなしくしていたが、ラクダが登場すると、数匹が興奮を隠しきれない様子だった。柱におしっこをかけてしまった犬もいた。
　式には、キリスト教徒以外の動物好きも訪れた。ユダヤ教徒とカトリック教徒のカップルは、ペットの黒のラブラドルレトリバーを連れてきた。この犬は盲導犬になるための訓練を受けている最中で１１月にデビューする予定となっている。
　飼い主は「（盲導犬となる前に）ここに連れてきて祝福を受けさせたかった。健康のため、幸運のために」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/03-15:51）

New York worshippers celebrated mass at St. John the Divine Cathedral on Sunday alongside hundreds of animals -- including a camel, a pony, snakes, ostriches, geese, cats and dogs -- which all queued up for blessings of their own.
The Manhattan Episcopal church invited its four-legged guests -- or no-legged, in the case of the snakes -- to mark the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of pets and animals.
Sunday's ceremony was a special milestone for the parish, which has not held a traditional first-weekend-of-October animal blessing since 2018, due to a fire and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
Animal-lovers of many faiths brought their furry friends to receive a little extra grace, including Jon Shweky, who is Jewish, and Christine Cookman, who is Catholic. They brought their black labrador, who is training to become a guide for the blind starting in November.
We wanted to bring him for a blessing before he went in (to become a guide dog), for a good health and good luck, Cookman told AFP.
It's such a spiritual (and) amazing thing to be involved with a church that recognizes the soul of animals, she added.
The cavernous interior of the neogothic cathedral -- whose construction began in 1892 -- allowed space for around 1,500 human attendees to join in on the $15 service, which was presided over by New York Episcopal Bishop Andrew Dietsche.
Most of the critters -- the majority of them dogs -- did their best to quietly endure the Mass, though some did become agitated when the camel processed down the aisle.
One creature did cause a small incident when it urinated on one of the stone columns helping to hold the weight of the building, whose dome was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino.
Kristin Portecella, 62, and her mother Dagmar brought in their dog Sadie for a blessing, happy to catch the one day a year when pets are permitted in church.
They are part of our... unconditional love, she said of her pup.
Also filling the pews at St. John's were an alligator, an owl, bunnies, goats, a lemur, a duck -- along with several other species.