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Chapter 4.11 Animal Chaplain
Be an animal chaplain and spread respect for God's creation and animal rights, no matter what your faith. Many attitudes about animals derive from Judaeo-Christian sources and are deeply human centred. Fundamental beliefs held for centuries are that God made animals for human use and that humans are more important than animals. People manipulate these ideas to justify exploiting animals while denying animals moral and welfare obligations. You can help transform these views and bring comfort to many people who are close to their animals. Anyone Can be an Animal Chaplain Animal chaplains do not need to be ordained as clergy or be a member of a religious group. You can be an animal chaplain on your own initiative, anywhere you like and independent. Just set up your own ministry. Animal chaplains are unpaid, often have another job to sustain their worldly needs and offer their chaplaincy part-time. Alternatively, as an animal chaplain you may affiliate to a religious body and preach in collaboration with ordained clergy. If you are a member of a religious group and wish to preach within its congregation, then a first step is to talk with your minister to explore opportunities. Some religious orders use lay preachers and celebrants, who are non-ordained and are part-time volunteers. It is said that because lay preachers live among the ordinary people that they are able to relate to the lives of common people and bring a freshness of interpretation to the scriptures that ordained clergy cannot do. Animal Preachers Past & Present Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226) is one of the best known religious preachers from history. He lived in present day Italy and was first a soldier, then a traveller and finally a Catholic friar who started his preaching career without being ordained. Frances was made a saint and as the patron saint of animals he demonstrates the positive side of Christianity to the animal world. However, you do not need to rely on legend for inspiration to preach about animals. Andrew Linzey (b 1952) is a real-life British Anglican priest, theologian, academic and a champion for animal rights within Christianity. Widely considered an authority on Christianity and animals, Linzey has been preaching and writing about Christianity and animal rights since the 1970's and says his vocation is to change Christian attitudes to animals for the better. (For more see the section Andrew Linzey.) Animal Chaplain Duties Among your duties as an animal chaplain you would:
Qualities You Need
Some churches offer training and accreditation to lay preachers. The training may take the form of meeting in study groups, associated reading for group discussion, writing essays and periodic homework. There are no officially approved training courses to qualify candidates as animal chaplains, although there are a handful of web sites that offer online learning opportunities. So be an animal rights chaplain now - the field is open and may be calling you. Publicising Yourself You may be able to publicise yourself as an animal rights chaplain through your house of worship. Another route is through your own web site or blog. As well as preaching sermons out loud you can write them for display; your web site or blog is an extension of your pulpit, so post your sermons there. Hand out your literature in public places, at religious services and meetings, and teach compassion to animals in school classrooms (see Public & School Speaker). ›› To Entries & Home |
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