The Problem of the Pastor’s Dog
GUEST COLUMN
An owner treats his dog like family. Both live together in a bond of great intimacy and affection.
Priestly dog ownership raises a trifling but ticklish question: Should a pastor house his dog in the rectory? Moral theologian Francis J. Connell, C.SS.R., replies with an equivocal “yes and no.”
Neither divine law nor the general law of the Church forbids a priest from owning a domesticated carnivorous canine. The propriety of using the rectory as a dog house is, however, an arguable point.
Bishops rarely lay down rules regarding a priest’s in-house pets. On this topic, Canon Law is silent. Holy Writ mentions the dog over 40 times, but mostly in terms of contempt and aversion — e.g., “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly” (Prov. 26:11) and “Do not give dogs what is holy” (Mt. 7:16).
You May Also Enjoy
Every life is valuable in and of itself. Every life is capable of giving glory to God, and therefore every life is worthy of our protection.
"Getting to the bottom of things" is what philosophy is all about. So argues Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, in an essay collection written between 1955 and 1975.
The Supreme Court of California seems, in effect, to be proposing the bisection of infants as a rational judicial procedure.