I HAD A DREAM...

I had a dream about the Church, manifesting to the current world the Good News about the Love of God, and having before its eyes not only people, but also animals... a Church which, hearing the Gospel Words of Jesus: "Whatsoever you do for one of these least of my brethren you do unto me" (Mt 25; 40), applies it both deliberately and heartily to the animal world... and who announces it to them and does not see in them any scandal or opposition, but simply the all-embracing Love of the Good God and the essential calling of the Gospel.

I had a dream of a frenetic Church, a joyous Church, a Church open to all beings living, suffering, loving, both human and animal... Without dividing those on the inside and those on the out, without differentiation, without prejudice, without placing one's personal politics above the Gospel calling...

I had a dream about a sanctuary, whose doors remain open for one as well as the other, a place where both feel as if in their own home, rejoicing in their mutual presence... where it is enough simply to be.. and that itself brings delight. Such a place on earth where, upon entering to meet God, one can take with oneself one's animal friend, and there no one will ever be surprised, but on the contrary will rejoice... A place where, as in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3; 8), one feels as if one is walking alongside of God...

THE ANIMAL PASTOR exists in order to make this dream a reality...

In the entire world, there exists an abundance of quiet, good, angels both small and large, people, organizations, movements, who keep awake at night looking for the good of our brother and sister animals, their welfare and their suffering... We wish to be there for them, to listen to their cares, to pray for them, to bless their daily labors, to be available to them when they need our help... With care and attention we will read every letter sent to us, take every phone call...

We will maintain contact with wise and good veterinarians, animal psychologists, alternative medicine specialists, pastors of every church, those for whom the welfare of animals remains in their heart and who, in undertaking such work, do it from a true overflow of their heart...

We will attempt to set up a community, THE ANIMAL PASTOR, wherever are found people who feel and think the same as we, creating thereby a network of mutually supporting groups... We would like the ANIMAL PASTOR to reach the furthest corners of the world, bringing the Good News wherever human beings and animal beings need them. We wish to be everywhere that the tears and cries of people and animals move the gates of heaven...

We will attempt to create centers in which this important, marvelous news will fill the world... the Good News that people and animals have much to tell each other, and in this mutual acquaintance, each can give to the other, here and now, a foretaste of heaven.

On our part, we will find a place for everyone (artists, craftsmen, businessmen, all who wish to propose anything), whoever wishes to share his/her material wealth with needy brothers and sisters of the animal world.

We will do everything, but not at any price, to gather as much money.

And we will beg God not to refuse our plea, but to open the hearts of people.

The fruit of such moneys we will later be able to see in the happy, joyous, peace-filled eyes of the animals and their friends, human beings.

"Whatever you have done for one of these, the least of my brethren, you have done unto me" (Mt 25; 40) Christ asserted, and these words have become the very program for our activities.

I do not want the last resting place for animals to be the garbage dumpster or a slaughterhouse. Just as with each one of us human beings, they also deserve a parting with respect and honor... I am prepared to pray over their graves...

I do not want suffering animals and suffering-with-them human beings to feel isolated in their pain... it is the most normal thing in the world to cry after the loss of your beloved animal, perhaps the only being in the world who truly awaited and yearned for your return, perhaps like you had children, loved, suffered, believed in, trusted, awaited...

We wish to be present to them in these moments, to bless these people and animals, to pray over them and for them

I wish to speak about the souls of these animals and their calling (by the Will of God) to a great solidarity with us first here on earth and later in heaven...

I desire nothing more than a common rendezvous of the animal and human world, and this gathering in turn, not other than in a climate of Christ's Love, His Good News, a Love which even today has the power to transform the face of this earth...

I wish that these animals and these people have their own loving shepherd.

And for that reason there exists THE ANIMAL PASTOR.

 From childhood we have been taught what distinguishes us from animals... How we differ from them... What separates us... So it is to the present day...

THE ANIMAL PASTOR is convinced that decidedly more unites us with the animal world than separates us, that we are indeed closer to them than often appears, or often we advert to (and we are not speaking here about the genetic code)... and that decidedly more unites us than separates us, and that which at first sight separates us truly deeply unites us.

I believe and am very deeply convinced that we are, together with the animals on a common path in the direction of the Never Falling Sun, Jesus the Christ... And that either we will arrive there together, together with them, the animal beings, or else, by repudiating them or rejecting them from our path, giving them pain, evoking tears in their eyes, truly we ourselves will never get there...

THE ANIMAL PASTOR