LINK to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/tierbestattung-begruendung-english.htm

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Why a religious ritual for a burial of companion animals?

 

Some years ago, a woman was standing at the door of my parish with her dead dog in her arms, telling me that she had heard that I sometimes held blessing services for companion animals; that's why she drove with her dog, who died the night before, 35 kilometers to my parish, to ask me to say a word of blessing for her dead dog before it was buried.

 

I was very touched by the request of this woman and of course I fulfilled her wish.

Two years later, a childless couple visited me and asked me to hold a little farewell ritual for their deceased dog, which was to be cremated in the next few days. Then they wanted to come to me with the urn, in order to say goodbye to their dog, comforted with prayers. The couple drove twice from 70 kilometers away to my parish.

 

Not least due to the death of our house cat, which my housekeeper had brought to the parish, I realized how important it is to take seriously the spiritual pain of people in the death of a "four-legged family member". I was deeply touched by how much the farewell pain had put a strain on me, when our beloved "Tiger" had died at the age of eighteen.

These experiences moved me to engage more intensively with what people, who lovingly live together with a companion animal for years, have in common with it, and on the other hand, how the companion animal and their deaths are seen in our Christian faith. In the process, I came across to the church teachings on the "theology of animals":

 

Thank God, in Germany for some years there are good magisterial statements by the Catholic and Evangelic churches in several documents of faith.

The most important of these documents is:

 

"Taking responsibility for the creation" from 1985

 

In this 1985 document, there are four theological statements that contain a major shift in the perspective of Christians regarding the animals:

 

1. The Genesis (recognizes) the animal as an animated being. (Chapter 52)

 

2. Animals have their meaning and their value just in their mere existence, their beauty and their wealth. (Chapter 65)
Men are required to respect the intrinsic value of his fellow creatures (Chapter 65)

 

3. The redemptive act of Jesus Christ extends not only to mankind, but to all creatures (Chapter 61).

 

4. The hope of resurrection creates hope for this world; the nonhuman creatures are included in it. (Chapter 60)

 

The complete document text in Internet (German version):

To order:

http://www.dbk-shop.de/de/Deutsche-Bischofskonferenz/Arbeitshilfen/Verantwortung-wahrnehmen-fuer-die-Schoepfung.html

To read on the EKD website:

http://www.ekd.de/umwelt/6078.html

 

 

Now, in 2015, Pope Francis in his encyclical "Laudato si" also formulated similar statements of faith about the "other living beings"
as the German bishops did 30 years before:

(Chapter information in brackets)

 

We are called to recognize that other living beings have a value of their own in God’s eyes. (69)

 

Yet it would also be mistaken to view other living beings as mere objects subjected to arbitrary human domination. (82)

 

All creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God, in that transcendent fullness where the risen Christ embraces and illumines all things. Human beings, endowed with intelligence and love, and drawn by the fullness of Christ, are called to lead all creatures back to their Creator. (83)

 

This is the basis of our conviction that, as part of the universe, called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect.(89)

 

Every act of cruelty towards any creature is “contrary to human dignity”. (92)

 

Jesus took up the biblical faith in God the Creator, emphasizing a fundamental truth: God is Father (cf. Mt 11:25). In talking with his disciples, Jesus would invite them to recognize the paternal relationship God has with all his creatures. (96)

 

We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that “not one of them is forgotten before God” (Lk 12:6). How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm? (221)

 

At the end, we will … be able to read with admiration and happiness the mystery of the universe, which with us will share in unending plenitude. …Eternal life will be a shared experience of awe, in which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place …. (243)

 

We know that all the good which exists (in the house of nature) will be taken up into the heavenly feast. (244)

 

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.

(246 Prayer for our earth)

 

The complete document “Laudato si>>>

 

Addendum:

 

That animals have a soul and thus a kind of self-confidence and self-esteem, I noticed during a special experience with our tomcat "Tiger" (+2009):

 

On a jump after a dragonfly he had landed in the garden pond and crawled out dripping wet. The sight of the whole process was so funny that his mistress could not stop laughing. The fact that he was now laughed at because of this unpleasant mishap made him so angry that he aggressively jumped at his mistress to grab and bite her for punishment.

 

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Summary of my reasons for publishing a religious burial ritual for companion animals:

 

1. As an aid to the grief pain of people who have lost a beloved companion animal through death. As a pastor, one is challenged to offer the specific help of the faith to all the strong stressful emotions of people.

 

2. There is a spiritual connection between human and companion animals beyond their death.

 

3. The recent statements of faith concerning animals by the German bishops as well as by the pope, in which ancient treasures of the faith are brought up, show that also animals belong to God´s salvation history with its creation.

 

4. The animals are acknowledged as animated beings and are integrated in the central messages of the Christian faith about creation, salvation and perfection by God.

 

5. Because the practical handling of the animals in our country and around the world is in many areas blatantly contrary to the Church's beliefs, these prayers can raise awareness in many people of the value and meaning of animal lives.

 

6. Since even faithful Christians are largely ignorant of the Church's doctrine of faith about animals, they can hopefully become more aware through this burial ritual.

 

7. Because within the church valuable and fundamental religious documents such as "laudato si" can often quickly be forgotten, it is important that contemporary religious documents will be formulated into a "prayed theology". Only if a contemporary faith also shapes the personal spirituality of Christians, will it also determine their actions in the long term.

 

Manfred Hanglberger – Catholic priest and family therapist (www.hanglberger-manfred.de )

 

LINK to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/tierbestattung-begruendung-english.htm

 

Prayers for a burial of companion animals >>>

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Other prayers and texts in English >>>

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