School’s animal blessing tradition a highlight

It was a case of all creatures great and small, as hundreds of beloved pets descended upon Tatachilla Lutheran College, south of Adelaide, for the college’s much-anticipated ‘Blessing of the Animals’ ceremony.

Conducted in remembrance of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, the event has become one of the highlights of the school year.

Tatachilla’s school pastor, Jon Goessling, began the Blessing of the Animals college tradition 10 years ago, inspired by a similar event he’d seen at a city parish. He was moved by a connection between people and their animals that was spiritual in nature and based on deep love.

‘My job as a college pastor is to make the invisible God visible and to help students understand their spiritual selves and the transformative power of love’, says Pastor Jon.

‘The annual event has become an unwitting gateway for students to see God in nature, with animals acting as the language of love and community. There is nothing so intuitive and profound as the love we have for the animals in our lives: it is godly and transformative.

‘I will never forget one Blessing of the Animals event at the college, where I came upon a senior student laying on her back on the grass looking blissfully up at the sky, seemingly breathing in the atmosphere of the animals around her. I asked her if she was alright and she responded, “This is the best day of my life. This is what the world should always be”.’

At the school’s first event in 2013, approximately 30 pets were brought along. The most recent event saw an astounding response from the college community with approximately 400 animals on campus. Three horses, a cow, a sheep, a dove and even a hermit crab were in line to be blessed, along with droves of cats, dogs, bunnies, guinea pigs and budgies. With Pastor Jon having been on extended leave, the task of blessing the enthusiastic mob fell to Pastor Albert Gast, who has been filling in as college pastor. Pastor André Meyer from Calvary Lutheran Church in nearby Morphett Vale was also called in as a reinforcement, due to the huge number of animals in attendance.

Pastor Jon, who is again looking forward to being part of the event later this year, says the connection between humans and animals evident in the college community is a special thing.

‘I love that in my job at Tatachilla, I can step outside of my office and see a family walking their alpaca up the school path on their way to see a staff member. This part of the “college normal” – where people and animals can interact lovingly every day – and what a wonderful normal it is.’

This story first appeared in Together, the LCA SA–NT District magazine and is republished with permission.