Rockaway’s Animals Are Blessed
On Wednesday, October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assissi, St. Francis de Sales held its annual Blessing of the Animals.
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon for the blessing. According to St. Francis’ announcement about the annual blessing, “We welcome all animals, even the non-Catholic ones!” And, indeed, they did.
That afternoon, animals all came out to the church’s prayer garden in droves, with their people, to be blessed. Father Bill Sweeney led the group in prayer. Then Father Bill, along with Deacon Armand D’Accordo, met each of the animals gathered in the garden, and blessed each pet with holy water.
